Mbea's Trickster
by Vayluh Arwen
Summary: Myra Hull, completely normal, and about to be hit by a speeding Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet. But unless the afterlife is 16th century Chichester, she's very much not dead. And when the Doctor turns up, and things start to get a lot more complicated.
1. Chapter 1: Time Crash

_First chapter / prologue, 'Time Crash', and, as much as I would love to, I don't own Dr Who :)_

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**Chapter 1 - Time Crash**

Myra Hull. Five foot eight, brown hair, green eyes. Administrative supervisor for a local supermarket, averagely bright, completely normal, and about to be hit straight on by a speeding, black Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet.

Myra woke up. Her head ached. She rolled her head to the other side. The movement sent a shot of pain through her skull. She grimaced, and then shivered. Cold. Then she frowned. Cold? It shouldn't be _cold_, why was it _cold_? Her consciousness flicked into action and she opened her eyes. Pitch black.

_Up,_ she ordered herself, firmly, _Come on. Up._

She put her hands out in front of her and forced herself up a few inches. She looked around. She could make out vague, black shapes around her, but nothing clear. She grimaced as her muscles objected to the sudden effort, and she put her hand up to her aching skull. It tinkled.

Myra forced herself bolt upright, quickly, clawing at the thing on her arm, in her skin. She pulled it out, ignoring the pain, and held it up in front of her eyes. An IV. A needle. Hospital? She looked around her, and then moved her hand over her forehead. She remembered. Oh God, she remembered. The road, the car, the crash, the tarmac. And then... nothing. Not a blip. _Nada_.

She pushed her back against whatever she had been lying on, forcing herself to be more comfortable - a contradiction her muddled mind was not able to register. She looked around, "Hello?" she called, hesitantly, moving back, keeping her eyes on the dulled, blackened shapes, "_Hello_? Is anyone there?"

There was no answer, and she felt a stab of panic move through her again, "_Hello_? Where am I? _Hello_!"

Nothing. She got to her feet, feeling her way around the bed, reaching out for a wall. Suddenly, a door slammed behind her and she spun back, her heart thumping, "_Who's there_?"

She heard slow footsteps, coming towards her, "Whoa, whoa, it's okay, it's alright."

She turned to the voice, "Where are you? _Who_ are you? What the hell's going on?"

"Look, it's okay, _really_, it's okay."

"_Who are you_?"

"I'm a friend. _Really_. I promise."

Myra frowned for a second. The footsteps had stopped. But she... _recognised_ that voice. _Really_ recognised it. But she couldn't quite place it. "Who are you. Tell me your name."

"Look, first things first, let me get us some light in here, yeah?"

A tiny blue light lit up not three metres away from her and a high, wavering whistle echoed through the air, a trill. She moved back, instinctively, and flinched when an old-fashioned, dirty looking light flickered into action above her head. She glanced at it and then immediately moved her eyes down. Then she froze.

"Are you alright?" the man asked, his voice full of simple concern.

Myra opened her mouth. Then she closed it again. He looked at her for a second, and then gave a small, slightly uncomfortable smile, "Yes, I'm fine, how are you, very good thanks, pleased to meet you."

She stared at him, and then finally managed to force out a courtesy: "Sorry. Yes, yes, I'm... fine. You?"

His smile turned genuine, "Very good, thanks, pleased to meet you. _Now_..." he walked away from her to her right, the long, grooved metal tube ready in his hand, "Don't mind me, just passing through."

He moved over to a window, swiftly, and her eyes followed him, still frozen in a mix of shock and confusion, "But... but you're..."

He looked back at her over his shoulder, barely more than a glance, and flashed her a thin black wallet with a single piece of paper, "John Smith, Health and Safety."

"Psychic paper." She said, quietly, without thinking.

He looked back at her again, "Sorry?"

She shook her head, "Nothing." There was a pause as she watched him scan the small blue light over the window frame in front of him and then force it open. Then she took a step towards him, "Where am I?"

He didn't look at her, "The hospital of St Mary the Virgin, Chichester, West Sussex."

Another shock. She just stared at him, "I'm _where_?"

"St Mary's hospital. Chichester. West Sussex."

"Oh no I'm not."

He looked back at her, surprised, "No, no, _really_. You're in St Mary's hospital."

"I'm not."

"Chichester."

"I'm _not_."

"West Sussex."

"_Stop saying that_!"

He stopped, looking at her, a slight frown still on his face. Myra took in a deep breath, and then forced it straight back out as he took a step into the light. The dim light completely illuminated his face, and... it was him. There was no mistaking him. Tennant. David Tennant. Prince Hamlet, Barty Crouch junior, Alan Hamilton from 'Recovery'... the Tenth Doctor.

Then she shook her head, realisation suddenly hitting her, "Oh, the _crash_! Of course, I... I must be in... a _coma,_ or something. Or maybe I'm crazy. Or maybe I'm _dead_, oh God, am I _dead_?"

A small half-smile passed over his lips, "Doesn't look like it to me." He took a sharp step towards her and just nicked her on the arm.

She flinched back, "_Ow_!"

His smile grew into a grin, "See? Not dead, no coma. Simple."

He went to turn away from her and she grabbed his shoulder, "But, wait, what about the crash?"

"_What_ crash?"

"I was hit. Hit by a car."

"A _cart_?"

"No, a _car_."

His expression had changed, a frown furrowing his features, "What d'you mean."

"I mean a _car_! What _else_ would I mean? A big black one, convertible, I think. Stuff's a bit fuzzy at the moment."

He looked at her, "_Really_... Now... _that's_ odd..."

"Not the _only_ thing around here, what the hell are _you _doing here?"

He seemed to retreat a little, "Oh, I told you, Health and Safety, just passing through."

"But... are... are you filming? Is _that_ what this is? Are you filming in... in the hospital?"

"No..." he looked at her, strangely, "Why would I do that?"

She shook her head, immediately, "Oh, I'm _insane_!"

"What, _why_?"

"Because..." she paused, and then shook her head again, "Because you're the _Doctor_."

He gave a small, curious smile, slightly surprised, "Yeah. Yes I am. Have we met?" she shook her head, and the smile flickered, staying on, "Sorry, I've... I've got a complicated life, I... I've been around. Do I know you - or, well, do you know _me_?"

She shook her head, shakily, "_Know_ you, hell, I probably know your life better than I do my _own_... _Time Lord_."

His expression suddenly changed. A frown moved over his face and he took a slow step back, "How do you know that."

"Well, seeing as I'm going along with this right now, I might as well do it right." She moved forwards, holding out her hand, "Myra Hull. And you?"

He stayed where he was, his eyes moving over her, not taking her hand, "You tell me."

She lowered her hand, "Oh no, _no_-one knows _your_ name."

"What makes you think that."

"Doctor." She paused, and then shook her head, "Look, if I'm for one second going to believe this is all true... It's just..." an unexpected tear slipped out of her eye and she turned her back, immediately. She put her shaking hands up to her face, and forced her breathing to still.

"I just..." her voice broke and she paused for a second, "I just don't know where I am. I... I have no idea what's going on." She turned back, grabbed him by the sleeve, refused to let him pull away, "Doctor, what happened. Where am I."

The Doctor looked at her for a second, a flicker passing over his face, a flicker of sympathy breaking through the suspicion. Then he put his hand on hers and gently moved it off, taking his time. Then he moved his eyes back up to hers, his expression perfectly serious, "Do you believe in time travel?"

* * *


	2. Chapter 2: Time Travel

_Second chapter of Mbea's Trickster, 'Time Travel', and, again, I don't own Dr Who :)_

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 2 - Time Travel**

Myra just looked at him. "Time travel." She repeated, slowly.

The Doctor nodded, his eyes fixed on hers, "Travel through time. And space. Like a... space... ship."

She shook her head, but not out of denial. He was speaking to her slowly and clearly, and _oh_, so gently, as if he was afraid she would go into _'culture-shock_', as he called it.

"A space ship." She replied, weakly.

"Yeah, like a... vessel. A vessel that travels not on the sea, but... through space. That's how I got here."

She nodded, slowly, "Okay. So. Why. Why are you here."

But he just looked at her, "You said you were in a... _car crash_."

"Yes."

"But cars weren't invented 'til the late nineteenth century." She stared at him, her eyes widening, and he nodded, "I should know, I was there. By Karl Benz, from Germany, a _Ladenburgian_, none the less. Late nineteenth century, _1878_, to be precise. You've still got more than three centuries to _go_, yet."

"Three... three _centuries_?" she looked at him, her heart weak and fluttering in her chest. He looked back at her, eyebrow raised, expression showing no joke, no deceit. She turned her back and cursed under her breath. Then she turned back on him, glad for the anger, that at least being better than pure confusion, "How is that even _possible_?"

He shook his head, frowning, "Who _are_ you?"

"Myra. Myra Hull."

"Human?"

She gave a small, strange laugh, "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

He waited a beat. Then he took a step back and pulled a pair of brown, thick rimmed glasses from his jacket pocket and pushed them on. He looked at her, _really_ looked at her, circling her, "Jeans. _Women's_ jeans - too tight, rubbish pockets. Weren't made popular until... World War Two? And that _top_..."

He nodded at her and she looked down at herself, a spark of indignation moving through her, "What's wrong with it?"

"A _vest_ top in the sixteenth century, you'd cause a riot! No, you are... _centuries_ ahead of your time. Maybe even _millennia_..." he glanced down, "No, not quite millennia. Nice shoes."

She looked down at her feet and her black and white converse. Then she nodded at his, "And you."

"Thanks, where are you from."

She shook her head, slowly, "I was born on the twenty-seventh of April, 1986, in the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford."

"Twentieth century... And you're...?"

"Twenty-three."

"2009... nice year." he looked at her for a second, "You've travelled over four hundred years and two hundred miles, all by yourself."

She shook her head, immediately, "Oh, no, I think I've travelled further than that."

"Why would you think that."

"Because of _you_."

He took a step towards her, "Who _are you_? How do you know me?"

"I just... _do_." The Doctor shook his head, angrily, and she put out a hand, "Look, just... Let me... ask you some questions, yeah? See how far we are." She tilted her head slightly to one side, looking at him, "Going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you, yes?"

"What does that mean."

"Daleks."

"What about them."

"There were Daleks in Manhattan."

He moved his head back, slowly, "How did you do that."

"Okay, forwards, let's try... the family of blood."

"_How are you __**doing**__ that_."

"The skies are made of diamonds."

"Are you a friend of Martha? Is that it, are you a friend of Martha's?"

She hesitated, and then nodded, "Yes. Yes, I'm... I'm a friend of Martha's."

"Prove it." He moved towards her, swiftly, securing a too-tight grip on her wrist, "_Prove_ it."

"Okay, okay, just -"

"_Prove_ it to me!"

"Get off, you're _hurting_ me!"

He paused, looking at her.

She looked straight back, "_Look_ at yourself."

The Doctor paused again. And then looked down at his hand, at his grip on her wrist. He let go, immediately, backing away, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She shook her head, swallowing back tears, "How. How can I prove it to you. Just tell me, what do you want me to say?"

He shook his head, straight away, "It doesn't matter."

"It does to _you_. So tell me. Go ahead."

He hesitated, and then shook his head, "Parents' names."

"What, _mine_?"

"No, _hers_. Martha's."

"Clive and Francine. Separated for ages."

"Because...?"

She smiled slightly, "Annalise."

"Sister."

"Letitia. _Tish_."

"Brother."

"Leo."

"Cousin?"

She paused, "Adeola. Adeola Oshodi. She's dead."

"And how did she die?"

"Battle of Canary Warf. Martha never found out what happened." She paused, looking at him, "You never told her."

He looked back at her, with a dangerous air, "She never asked."

"She always wondered."

"She never _said_."

"Of course she didn't." Myra paused, watching him, "Do you remember Donna Noble?"

"How do you know her."

"I... I work for UNIT. With Martha. One part of our... _protocol_ is to... round up any possible sources of information about... about the Doctor. And catalogue them. I was assigned Donna Noble."

"Well, good luck to you, you'll be there for years, she's certainly got a mouth on her. Nice in a wedding dress."

She paused, "So... that's okay, then? You're... okay with me seeing her?"

"Yep."

"Well, just... with what happened? You're... okay with us talking? About you?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She paused, "Okay... I think I've found the boundary. So you don't remember... Pompeii? The Ood? The Library?"

The Doctor looked at her, expressionless.

"Okay. Okay, alright." She looked him up and down, "Yeah, I've definitely got the boundary now... Sorry about that."

The Doctor looked at her for a second, and then snapped back into action, taking out his sonic screwdriver, "So you're... Myra Hull." He glanced at her, quickly, motioning at her with the tube, "D'you mind?" instead of waiting for an answer he flicked a switch and held it up to her face, his eyes fixed on her but not looking at her, "Myra Hull, UNIT, friend of Martha Jones... Now, are you just a normal grunt - no offence - or are you something new?"

"No, I'm... administrative supervisor."

"Really? What a title..."

"Nothing special."

"Mm. And yet you're _here_..."

The screwdriver whistled away, and she found her eyes tracking it, awkwardly, watching its movement, "Y'know what."

"What."

"There's something I've always wondered about."

"What?"

"That sonic screwdriver... looks nothing _like_ a screwdriver."

He stopped, looking back up at her, "Depends where you get your screwdrivers. _Now_... car crash, yeah?"

Myra nodded, grimacing, suddenly remembering the pain in her head, her hand going up to it, "Yeah, black Ford Focus Coupé-Cabriolet on a _pelican crossing_, how rude is that?"

"Well, were the lights green?"

"_Yes_."

"Green for _you_?"

"_Yes_!"

"Okay, alright." He put his screwdriver back in his inside pocket and then put his hands on her cheeks, looking carefully into her eyes, "Let me take a look at you."

"What, and give me your medical opinion?"

He gave a grin, "Oh, you certainly _sound_ like her. Now, your _head_..."

She reached up to her hair, her fingers feeling out any blood or cuts. She couldn't find any.

The Doctor glanced at her, "May I?" She nodded, automatically, and he circled around her again, stopping behind her, his hands on her head, gently this time, _very_ gently, as if he was remembering what he had done last time. She stayed incredibly still, her shoulders rigid, holding her breath.

"You're shivering."

"I'm stuck in 1556 over two hundred miles away in a sixteenth century hospital with a complete stranger."

"So? Happens to me all the time."

She turned around, pushing his hands off of her, "Well it doesn't to _me_." She paused, caught herself, and forced her tone to soften: "Diagnosis?"

"No harm done. Myra Hull, you're a very lucky administrative supervisor."

"So why does my head feel like it's splitting."

"Time travel without a capsule. _Nasty_... How you feeling?"

She looked around her, around the dim, dark room, at the tiny metal tables covered in tiny metal instruments. She felt her throat catch and she shook her head, slowly, "I'm so far from home..."

The Doctor looked at her. Then he put his hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face him, going down to her level, "Myra, look at me. _Look_ at me." He waited for her eyes to lock with his. He didn't blink. "I am going to get you home. _Believe_ me, _Myra Hull_. I am going to keep you safe, and I am going to get you home."

"Really."

"Do you trust me?"

She looked at him, _really_ looked at him, focussing on his charcoaled hazel eyes. She shook her head, slowly, "You're not even real. You're... you're not real. I'm lying back home, back in Telford, back in 2009, in hospital - maybe even the Princess Royal, who knows - in a coma, and all this... it's all... my imagination. My... _subconscious_. I dunno, maybe I was watching BBC before I was hit, I can't remember. But this is... _madness_."

He looked at her and nodded, seriously, "Alright."

"It's not happening."

"Okay."

"It's not real."

"If you say so." She paused looking at him, and he raised an eyebrow, shrugging, "Must be nice to live in denial."

"It's not denial."

"Isn't it?" he gave her a second to think about it and then shook his head, turning slightly, addressing his words to whatever being happened to be in same room as him at the same time, "You know what _I_ think, I think your denial is just a scapegoat. Yeah. A scapegoat to stop you from actually _thinking_ about what's happening."

"I _am_ thinking. And you're right. I _don't_ want to accept it. Who would want to accept _this_?"

He looked at her, and then tightened his grip on her shoulders, "Myra. Do you _trust_ me."

Myra looked at him. Then she shook her head, "To the end of the world."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3: The Doctors

_Third chapter of Mbea's Trickster, 'The Doctors', and - see at the bottom? No copyright. Meaning, I don't own Dr Who :)_

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**Chapter 3 - The Doctors**

"To the end of the world?" the Doctor echoed, a small smile playing around his lips, "Good. That's good."

"Most clichéd thing I've ever said."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of cliché! I _love_ cliché, me!"

"Well, _that's_ obvious..." Myra muttered.

"Oi!"

"Sorry, but... yeah."

"_Oi!_"

"Enough of 'oi', back to business! Never mind _me_, what the hell are _you_ doing here?"

"Oh, I'm... I'm..."

"If you say 'just passing through', I will kill you." She promised, seriously.

He sighed and shook his head, running a hand through his hair, "Well. Blimey. You're not stupid, are you?"

"No, no I'm not. So please. Why are you here."

He paused for a second, looking at her, and then shook his head again, "I was tracking this, this... _thing_, this creature. But it's not a creature, it's... it's more like... a manifestation... _turned_ into a creature."

"How? And, y'know... _who_? What by?"

The Doctor looked at her, smiling slightly, "Oh, you're good at this."

"Answer the question."

"Yes, _ma'am_..." he paused for a second, patting his pockets, and then pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He came around to her side, letting her see, sketching out something in thin, precise lines, "Well... it _looks_... a _bit_... like _this_."

Myra looked at it, frowning, tilting her head slightly to one side, "You're searching for a weasel?"

"No, that's just what it looks like. At the moment."

"It's a _weasel_! Or is this just... the, uh... _presentation_?"

"Hey! That's a perfect reproduction, that is."

"It's a Chihuahua in fancy dress."

"It's a chosen image, alright, something that wouldn't stand out."

"What, like a 1960's police box?"

"Well, _you're_ quick on the uptake... But, no, no, it's not the same."

"Well, not a shape-shifter, I suppose, it uses a chameleon circuit with a perception filter, right?"

He looked at her for a second, "You're almost too clever to be true... You're not an android, are you?"

"No, I told you, I'm human. Human as they come."

"Hmm. _Human_... I guess it's _possible_... _Unusual_ human, maybe..."

"Oi, d'you mind?"

"I thought you said no more 'oi's?"

"Just... never mind. What _is_ this... _manifestation_. What's it to do with this place."

The Doctor hesitated, glancing at her, "It's bad."

"Try me."

"_Very_ bad."

"_How_ bad."

"End of the world. End of time, end of _existence_. End of life itself."

"Oh. _That_ bad..."

"_Yes_, _**that**_ bad." He moved back to the window, startling her with his speed, and looked outside, leaning over, checking the walls, "But I can find it. I've got its trace locked on with _this_." He pulled a strange, metal box-thing out of a pocket on his trench coat, waving it at her, "My little tracker. It's got the creature's scent."

"Like a tiny metal golden retriever."

"_Exactly_!"

"So where have you tracked it to?"

"Here." He turned around, facing her, his expression suddenly serious, "But there's _nothing_. Nothing but you."

"What are you saying?" she asked, slowly.

"_Well_... seen any Chihuahuas in fancy dress?"

"Actually, no, but it wouldn't be the _first_ impossible thing I've seen around here."

He grinned, "Yeah, I love days like that, don't you?" then he was serious again, back to the metal box, tinkling a light, high-pitched melody, "But I'm only picking up you. And _you_..." he ran the box over her, up and down, scanning, "That's interesting..."

"Why, what's it say."

He looked up at her, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You're... _no-one_."

"Well what does _that_ mean?"

He waited a beat, "I don't know."

"That's a first... So what do you _think_?" he didn't reply, but she instantly translated the look. She shook her head, bitterly, "You think I'm it. That manifestation's a shape-shifter, and you think it's me."

"Not necessarily."

"Then _say_ what you _mean_!"

The Doctor paused, looking at her. Then he nodded at the door, "We better get moving. Don't want you stranded here for longer than you have to be, do we?"

She looked at him for some time, and then anger took hold of her, "Fine." She turned on her heel and started off towards the door, pushing it open and walking through without waiting for a response.

"Who are _you_?"

* * *

Myra spun back around, her heart stopping in her chest.

"Good _God_!"

Her eyes fixed onto the man in front of her, scanning over him, her mind racing. He was older than her, mid-thirties, probably, and dressed very neatly in an odd black, sort of long tunic, "Uh... hello."

"What the _blazes_ are you _wearing_?"

She looked down at herself. And then back up. "1556."

"_Excuse_ me?"

She looked at him. Then she forced herself to calm, gesturing at the open door behind her. "I... I apologise, sir, I... just woke up."

"And you've misplaced your clothing?"

"I..." she looked down again, "It... appears I have." Back up, "Again, I apologise."

Suddenly the Doctor appeared by her side, opening his mouth to talk to her and then stopping halfway as he spotted the other man. He paused, catching his step for a second, "Oh... hello."

The man turned on him, "Is this woman yours, sir?"

"_Yours_?" Myra repeated, sceptically.

He looked back and forth between them and then grinned, "Yeah, yeah, _sorry_ about her, my man, she's a bit... well, y'know."

"Oi!"

"You said no more 'oi's!"

She shook her head and moved towards the man, "Good sir, if you would kindly excuse us. As... as you said... I must find myself some proper attire."

The man hesitated, and then shook his head, "Walk with me. We'll find you some proper attire."

Myra paused. Her eyes moved down over him. He had a wooden crucifix around his neck, and another cross emblazoned in white on the right shoulder of his tunic. She looked back up at his eyes, "Who are you."

"I am a Doctor, girl."

"Really?" she muttered, shaking her head, "I can barely put up with _one_ of you..."

"I'm making an effort not to be offended." The Doctor said, raising an eyebrow.

"You are a learned man, sir?"

"I have my moments."

"Well, good day to you." He held out a hand, "I am Sedley. And you?"

"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor."

Sedley hesitated, "Yes, I am aware of that, sir."

"My lord's name is Doctor Allen, sir." Myra said, quickly, glancing between them, "Doctor Thomas Allen."

The man looked at her, his expression sceptical, "I was talking to _him_." He leaned towards her, "Do try and control yourself, child."

Then he turned back, smiling, "Now, then, let's make haste. We have much to discuss about your woman's condition, and..." he looked down at her, surveying her with a slight tint of distaste, "... I'm sure she will be getting cold. Come."

The two men started walking. Myra paused for a second and then followed them, quickly catching up and dragging the Doctor back a step, moving her mouth to his ear: "If he talks to me like that one more time then I'm gunna punch him in the face."

He gave a small, suppressed laugh, "Oh, that'll be the day."

"Though I suppose I'll be executed for _treason_, or something."

"More like _hysteria_..."

"Hysteria? Isn't that -?"

"Yes."

She stopped and shook her head. She stayed silent for a moment, thinking, ignoring the conversation the two doctors were having, struggling a little to keep up with the fast pace. Her head was buzzing. It wasn't just the _physical_ pace she was struggling to keep up with. This was impossible.

"...the humors seem to be unbalanced, unstable."

"Mmhmm."

"And by the tint of her skin there is a possibility of an obstruction of the spleen."

"Or maybe she's spent some time out in the sun...?" Sedley looked at him and he shook his head, immediately, "No, sorry, course not, how long has my friend been here?"

"A couple of weeks."

"Excuse me, _weeks_?" Myra said, incredulously.

"Unconscious, unresponsive, for fifteen days."

"_Fifteen __**days**_?"

"Just through here." Sedley turned round and through a door, closely followed by the Doctor. She moved after them, quickly.

The Doctor nodded, slowly, ignoring her just as he had, "_Really_, fifteen _days_... Now _that's_ a coincidence..."

Myra took a step forwards, deliberately standing in his eyesight, "Let me guess. The _manifestation_."

Sedley frowned, "A manifestation of _what_, exactly?"

"Hmm." He paused, and then shook his head, turning on his heel and looking around him, pointing at a door behind them, "Closet? Good, _good_." He turned back, flashing his most solicitous smile, "Now, doctor, if you would leave us for a moment, we need to get my friend... _decent_."

"Of course, Allen. And, incidentally, what is your young friend's name?"

"Jane Hull." The Doctor replied, quickly, still smiling.

"Thanks for asking..." she muttered, derisively.

"Then I'll give you leave." Sedley backed out, shot the Doctor a small smile, and then left, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

The Doctor paused for a second, and then let out a long breath, "Well, that's _him_ gone."

Myra looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "_Jane Hull_?"

He looked straight back at her, just as sceptically, "_Doctor Thomas Allen_?"

She shrugged, turning round, opening the closet door and shifting through yards of incomprehensible clothing, "Abraham Darby Academy for seven years. Two years in Critical Thinking. History of the name, two most popular male names of the sixteenth century? John and Thomas."

"Why not John?"

"Why not _Myra_?"

"What, _Myra_? Made up in a book, a Grecian poem, seventeenth century, didn't take up as a given name 'til the nineteenth. _Jane's_ the second most popular _female_ name."

"Wow, we're made for each other."

"I don't think so."

"Neither do I."

"What was the accent back there, anyway?"

She shrugged, turning her back, looking around the room Sedley had left them in, pacing back and forth, "Sixteenth century English. I've read enough Shakespeare to know the basics." She glanced at him, "Go on, then, bring on the criticism..."

He raised an eyebrow, "Actually, it was quite good. Congratulations."

"Well, _that's_ a first..."

He smiled, "Yeah, I... guess it is." Then he looked at her, a spark of the old burning curiosity moving back into his eyes, "And I don't even know who you are. Not really."

"But... I _told_ you who I am." she paused, suddenly realising something, and taking a sharp, urgent step towards him, "You'll take me home? Right?"

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Back to 2009, back to Telford?"

He looked at her, "I'll take you back home."

"Don't you start playing loopholes on me, Doctor. Sutton Road, Admaston, Telford. 2009."

He made a face and shook his head, "_Telford_? You _seriously_ come from _Telford_?"

"Yes."

"There's a _UNIT_ base in _Telford_?"

She shook her head, "No, I work at London. And, anyway, what's wrong with Telford?"

"Nothing. Nothing, it's... pretty. Yeah. Pretty. Apley Castle Park is _very_... _**pretty**_."

"Can I detect a hint of sarcasm, there?" his eyes glittered, and she shook her head, turning back to the small wardrobe, "Come on, then. 1556, I haven't got a _clue_, what are all these things?"

He walked up to her side, looking at her, sceptically, "Human women's sixteenth century fashion and you're asking for _my_ advice?"

"Well, then, _Doctor_, we'll help each other." She pulled out a wide hoop, attached to three more by a dirty-white fabric. She stretched it out, looking at it, and then glanced to her right, "Farthingale?"

He shrugged, his hands now deep in his pockets, the universal stance of 'the shopaholic's husband', "Yes?"

"No way. Corset... no chance... Uh... bodice, yeah, that's fine..." she rifled through, pulling out the selected clothes and folding them over her arm, "Jacket... _thing_..."

"Ruff?" he completed, pulling out a thick lace concertina ruff, showing it to her with a twinkling smile.

"Oh no."

"Very sixteenth century."

"I'm not wearing that. No way."

"Oh, it's the height of fashion!"

"_No... __**way**_! I'm not doing it!"

"Okay, well how about _this_." He pulled out a thick, almost suede-like dress and showed it to her. She looked at it, her hand reaching out, sliding down it. It was a shade of dark violet with a square neck, no ruffles, no frills, no... _ties_... a bit sort of... _puffy_, but apart from that... She took it from him and held it up to the light, and then shot him a smile, "Good choice." She held it to her, judging the length, "And it'll cover the shoes, at least. One less thing to worry about." She glanced back up at him, shooting him an uncertain smile, "It's nice."

He raised an eyebrow, the slightest smile lingering in the corner of his lips, "It'll go with your hair."

"Thanks for that."

"Brown makes the purple look vibrant."

"Ha, very funny. You know what, you can't do sarcasm."

He grinned, "I think you'll find I can."

"Okay, then, fine." She glanced around and then opened a door near her, glancing in. Empty. She looked back at the Doctor, pointing at him, firmly, "Don't you go anywhere."

"Of course."

"You promise?"

He raised his hands, "I told you, Myra Hull. I'm not going anywhere. Not without you. So get a move on!"

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, "Yes, _sir_..."

* * *


	4. Chapter 4: L’Hôpital

_Fourth chapter of Mbea's Trickster, 'L'Hôpital' - French for 'the hospital', FYI - and Doctor Who belongs to the BBC... and Russell T Davies... and maybe David Tennant, what the hell :) - but not me :(_

* * *

**Chapter 4 - L****'Hôpital**

"What d'you think, will I pass?"

He looked at her, critically, his eyes moved down to her now covered feet, then back to her face, smiling, "Perfect! Except..." he tilted his head slightly to one side, "Are you still wearing your jeans?"

She adjusted the new dress, awkwardly, pulling it a bit further down until it brushed the floor, "Like _hell_ I'm running in a dress."

"Why would you be running?"

She looked at him, "Well, it's _you_, isn't it? You never _stop_! Well." She corrected herself, quickly, "As _Martha_ puts it."

He looked at her for a second, his expression unreadable, and then animation jolted back through him, "_Right_, okay, come on then, _allons-y_!_"_

Myra nodded, "Ouais, de retour chez soi."

He smiled, "_Oh_, vous parlez _français_! Brilliant! _But_..." He raised an eyebrow, "D'abord: _l'hôpital_."

She sighed, shaking her head, "If we _must_. Hospitals give me the creeps, _especially_ _**old**_ hospitals. No offence."

"Why would that cause offence?"

"Well... with you being a _doctor_, and all..."

"_Well_, it's not exactly a... _stationed_ position..."

"What the hell's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"D'you wanna hear a secret?"

She looked at him, "What."

He shot her a smile, "I hate hospitals too. Now come on. Time we found out what's happening here."

* * *

"You are ready, then?"

The Doctor spun back around, a smile moving onto his face, "Doctor Sedley! Good to see you, sir."

"About Hull's condition -"

"I am feeling _fine_." Myra interrupted, firmly, giving him a small smile, "I apologise for wasting your time, sir, but, truth be told, I'm feeling much better."

He completely ignored her, keeping his eyes on the Doctor, "The humors, sir, they need to be balanced as soon as possible to prevent infection."

"And just what does that mean." She asked, quietly.

He looked at her, eyebrows raised, and then turned back to the Doctor without a word, seemingly waiting for his opinion. He just looked straight back.

Myra's heart pumped. She had done basic history, and remembered quite a bit. Enough to feel a chill go through her heart at the thought of what things had gone on in this... _hospital_. A hospital of the sixteenth century... God, the stories she had heard, the history...

Myra turned to the Doctor again, grabbing hold of his shoulder, "You can't leave me here with him." She muttered, urgently, keeping her voice low, "You can't, please."

He looked down at her, surprised, concerned, "Why would I do that?"

"I've heard what sort of things happened in these places." She said, keeping her eyes on his, firmly ignoring the other, "Sixteenth century hospitals. You can't let this man treat me, he'll cut me up."

"Miss Hull, I know very well what I am doing." Sedley turned again, "Doctor Allen. Discounting the humors, sir, there is still the matter of your woman's temperate. You remember I told you, the possibility of an obstruction of the spleen?"

"Yes." He paused, and then looked back at him and nodded, amazingly convincingly, "_Right_, _**yes**_, of _course_. And I daresay that sort of treatment would involve... _blood_-_letting_, correct?"

"Okay," Myra said, abandoning her forced Shakespearian tone as the effect of the word and what it meant hit her, "That's it. You are _not_ sticking any leeches on me, to _hell_ with you! I'm outta here, Doctor?"

He sighed, wearily, "Oh, so much for blending in with the local colour..."

Sedley looked at her and then back, "Your friend is hysterical, sir, control her."

"_Doctor_?" she repeated, insistently.

"See, Jane, I _told_ you he'd go on to hysteria."

"Doctor Allen?"

He took a step forwards, taking the other man's hand, "Doctor, my apologies for my friend, she has a rare condition and a very deep fear of hospitals, she can't _stand_ hospitals, but I've worked closely with her, and, I assure you, I will treat her personally."

"But, sir -"

"Doctor Sedley, I must insist. I will treat her back home."

"With respect, sir, do you even know what sort of treatment to administer?"

"Treatment of an obstruction of the spleen would usually involve blood-letting the basilic vein, good sir, please don't underestimate me, I know very well what I'm doing."

"He is a _doctor_, after all..." Myra muttered, shaking her head.

He shot her a grin and she managed a small equivalent. Then she turned around, "Well. Now. No point wasting time chatting, let's get out of here." She turned again, back to Sedley, raising an eyebrow, "Exit?"

He paused, looking at her, and then nodded down the grimy corridor behind them, "That way. Second left. Follow the hall."

She shot him a bright smile, "Thankyou. Now, I'll be off. Bye!"

She spun on her heel and headed off down the corridor, and, after a bemused second, the Doctor followed on behind her.

* * *

"You're an odd one, you are."

Myra continued walking, not looking at him, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Really?"

"Well, coming from _you_, how odd could someone possibly be?"

The Doctor gave a small laugh and shook his head, "I guess you're right."

"You're a _generated anomaly_."

"Yeah. Yes I am."

"And I'm trusting you with my life..." she paused for a second, thoughtfully, and then shaking her head, "Of course I am. You're the Doctor. I have to remember that."

He shook his head, "Where are you _getting_ this from? This, this _trust_?"

She didn't hesitate: "Martha." He stopped, and so did she. She had his full attention now. She shrugged slightly, "She thought the world of you." She gave a small smile, "And the galaxy, and any other galaxies she may have been in." He echoed the smile, and then hers faded away. Her eyes moved over him, and she took a step forwards, reaching out with a tentative hand, "Can I...?"

He leant back a little, eyes fixed on her hand, just as cautious, "What."

"Just..." she moved forwards again, and put her hand on the left side of his chest. She pushed a little harder down with the tips of her fingers until she felt it. One-two. One-two. One-two. One-two. She looked up at him, caught his eyes. Then she moved her hand to the other side. One-two. One-two. One-two. One-two. She took her hand away. Then she turned her back, letting out a long breath, shaking out her hand at the wrist. She was shivering. "_Okay_... Alright.... that's..." she trailed off, and then let out another shaky breath, "Okay." She repeated, her voice calmer, "That's... over and done with. Exit's... exit's this way."

She started walking, and kept her eyes on the floor as he caught up with her, "Why did you do that."

"I wanted to know for sure."

"Know what."

"It doesn't matter."

"No, tell me what's wrong."

"It _doesn't matter_. Let's keep moving."

She kept walking, and there was silence for a while.

"First binary-vascular system you've heard, then?"

Myra didn't stop, "Actually, yes. Don't get many aliens wandering around twenty-first century Telford."

"Ah. Yes. I suppose so. But at UNIT?"

She shook her head, "Never seen anything like it."

"Ah. Okay." He paused for a moment, and then, somewhat hesitantly, put a hand on her shoulder, "For what it's worth..." she glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow. His expression was perfectly serious, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what happened to you. And I promise you, I'll get you home." He glanced up and smiled, "Starting from _now_!" They reached the door and he set off towards it at a run, pushing it open with a shoulder and bounding out into the sunlight, "_Ha_! _Sunlight_! Sixteenth century Chichester, nothing like it!"

She felt a smile slide onto her face. His enthusiasm was infectious. She picked up the pace a little and moved towards the door.

"1556, haven't been here for _ages_! _Fantastic_ year! You've got Queen Mary the First on the throne, first reigning queen of England, Michelangelo, tobacco - not so good - Nostradamus, coming up to the _height_ of the English Renaissance! It's _amazing_ how humans are so Myra, what are you doing?"

He came back to her, leaning down a little so their eyes were level, "Myra? Myra, can you hear me?"

Myra didn't move, didn't respond. She kept her gaze straight, looking at a point over his shoulder.

"Myra. _Myra_? Are you alright?"

She forced her eyes onto his, "I'm here. I can hear you."

"What's wrong."

She didn't reply, and instead ran her tongue over her bottom lip, digging her teeth in deep. This wasn't right, this was _wrong_, _**so**_ wrong, what was _happening_?

"Myra? _Talk_ to me, Myra."

"I can't go out the door."

"You... _what_?" he paused, frowning, his eyes moving over her as if he wasn't quite sure whether to take her seriously, "What d'you mean?"

"I _can't go out the door_."

"But... but you _wanted_ to leave."

She gritted her teeth, "I know."

"So why -?"

"I _just_... _**can't**_."

"Yeah, course you can, come on. One step."

"No. I can't."

The Doctor paused, his eyes once again tracing over her, "What's stopping you."

Myra looked at him. She was shaking again. A trail of water spilled down her cheek. She didn't know why. She felt pale and weak, like the blood had been drained from her. She was barley able to stand.

"This creature, what is it."

"Sorry?"

"What _was_ it, Time Lord."

"I told you, it was this... _manifestation_."

"A manifestation of what."

He paused, looking at her, "It doesn't matter. Come on, back to the TARDIS, it's time to get you home."

"Oh, I'm not going _any_where, Time Lord."

His shook his head, frustrated, "But you _want_ to _leave_ this place!"

"Yes, I do." She locked eyes with him, tried to move again and, again, found she couldn't, "Doctor."

"What."

"That's your name - _Doctor_."

"_Yes_?"

"Doctor. A _healer_. And yet you _burn_. Burn in the centre of Kasterborous itself."

"What do you mean."

Myra shook her head, weakly. Whose words were _they_? They certainly weren't _hers_. Were they? She felt so confused, like she was so close to remembering something, but just couldn't quite get there. She managed to push back through, forcing her own words into her mouth, "Doctor, help me."

He put his hands up to the sides of her head, centimetres away from her skin, and she took a sharp step back, "_Don't_ touch me, _don't_!"

He withdrew. His eyes moved over her, cautiously, concernedly, "What do you want me to do, Myra."

She nodded, slowly, regaining herself, "Step away from the door."

He did so, immediately, forwards into the corridor with her.

"Shut it."

He obeyed. Then he looked at her, "Better?"

She nodded again, and then took an abrupt step towards him, grabbing hold of his jacket, "It doesn't want you to go. It wants you to find it, it _needs_ to be found."

He moved his head back, slowly, realisation passing over him, "You mean it's still in the _hospital_."

"Yes. And you must find it."

He nodded, thoughtfully, "Okay. Okay, alright, I'll... find it. I promise you. But, for now, what I'd really like to do is talk to _Myra_, can you do that for me?"

_I'm __**here**_. Her mind screamed, _Doctor, I'm __**here**__, what the hell's going on!_

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied, softly.

"Nuh-uh, c'mon, now, I want to talk to _Myra_. Myra, _**Myra**_. Hear me?"

He reached out a hand and she took another step back, avoiding his touch. Myra noted the move, quickly. Her moves weren't her own; her words were someone else's. Her heart thumped sickly in her chest.

"You've tracked me so far, Time Lord. Would you abandon the chase so easily?"

"I don't talk _through_ people, it's not something I'm known for. So. Tell me where you are and we can talk this out properly."

"I thought the message would come easier from a friendly face."

"Let her go, I barely know her."

"Yes, I know. But she knows _you_." Her voice stopped. Her hand was pushed back against the wall, stabilising her, and she could feel her heart pumping impossibly fast now, a low hum, and it wasn't fast enough, "She's fighting, you know. She's _strong_, _very_ strong. A good choice, Doctor."

"I didn't choose her."

"No, _I_ did. So much spirit..."

"And you admire that?"

"I _pity_ that. She won't defeat me. I'm far too strong for her."

The Doctor looked at her, closely, "Yes. Yes, you _are_ strong. But you've still got a _weakness_, _haven't_ you?"

"What do you mean."

"_Well_... I've been watching you, I can _see_ you, more or less. The way you behave in her is the way you behave on the _outside_, I'm thinking. You can't help it, it's just something you are. And I _reckon_ I've noticed something you don't seem to like." He leaned closer towards her, his eyes dangerous and triumphant, viciously triumphant, "_Touch_."

* * *

Myra pushed out her hand, forcing her movements to be her own, secured a firm grip on his wrist and pulled his open hand up to her cheek.

She pulled in a sharp gasp of breath and then let it out, instantly recalling another. The Doctor tightened his grip, putting his other arm round her shoulders, "Okay, Myra, alright, it's alright, I've got you."

She forced her lungs to open again, "_Doctor_!"

He gave a small relieved laugh, "Oh yes, that's me. And _well_ done, Myra Hull, _well_ done, you were _brilliant_!"

"I had that thing inside my head." She managed, her breathing hectic and shallow, "_God_, so... so..." she turned, grabbing his hand, his arm, her grip too tight, "Doctor, what is it. _Tell_ me, _please_."

He hesitated, looking at her, his smile fading. Then he shook his head, slowly, "It's a monster."

* * *


	5. Chapter 5: The Monster

_Mbea's Trickster - fifth chapter, 'The Monster'. The Doctor finally explains what 'manifestation' is a euphemism for, and Myra makes a deal._

_Disclaimer - Alas, I do not own Doctor Who._**Chapter 5 - The Monster**

* * *

"It comes from the planet Mbea, a united theocratic planet of the Sarian System, over four galaxies away, part of the Interstellar Plutocracy."

Myra shifted on the reception desk they were now sitting on, crossing her legs, "Theocratic? What god do they worship?"

"_All_ of them."

"But... surely that's impossible? How can you worship _every_ god?"

"Well, religions have _moulded_ since your time. Got all muddled up. Like Church of England is a bit of Catholic, bit of Protestant, bit of Judaism, this is exactly the same. People take hold of the bits they _want_ to believe and believe _that_."

"Yes, but _all_ of them? That can't even be _possible_. _Especially_ seeing as quite a few religions claim to believe in the _one __**true**__ God_. How can you believe in them all if your religion says that fifty Gods are the _one true God_?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Yeah, well... they didn't think about that. They're just a little bit thick. But anyway, our creature comes from the far _North_ of Mbea, up in the Lost Sphere, _completely_ isolated, it's cut off from _everywhere_, no way in, no way out, so the theocracy didn't get spread that far."

"Whoa, wait a second, if it's completely cut off how did anything get there in the _first_ place?"

He shrugged, "Evolution? Maybe billions of years ago it was _habitable_, there's a chance."

"So... why did no-one go there? They must have like, _spaceships_ and stuff, right?"

"Yes, but the whole sphere is surrounded by a Binary Nexus, a _Kurror_, a sort of... big... _hole_, like... like _nothing_."

"A black hole?"

"Yeah, but... not really. This thing only devours... _physical_ things. Ships, cars... cities, horizons, _people_... not _every_thing."

"And it cuts off the North."

"Yeah, kind of like... like an invisible force-field. A _big_ invisible force-field." He gestured with his hands, forcing a 'world' with one and then circling the north section with the other, "All around this one section, just... _nothing_. You can't go _near_ it, not within five thousand miles - above, below, beside, _any_thing. Anything that goes anywhere near gets sucked in. One hell of a drawbridge."

"And this... _drawbridge_... it's a... _hole_."

"In time."

"Like... like the Untempered Schism?"

This time he was so engrossed he barely blinked at her words, "No. That's controlled. The Blockade of the Lost Sphere _eats_ and _eats_ and _eats_ and _nothing_ _**physical**_ can escape it."

"Except this manifestation."

"Yes, but that's how it got past it. It _wasn't __**physical**_, not _then_."

"What do you mean."

"I told you it was a manifestation. And that's what it is. A manifestation of _ideas_. The ideas of everything in that Blockade, everything that died, all mixed up. Something about the Lost Sphere must have given it form, real enough to survive but not physical enough to be pulled in by the Blockade. The creature... is an _idea_."

"And an idea is hard to kill..." She completed, slowly, "But an idea can't kill _you_, either."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? Tell that to the millions that died in the Crusades. Tell that to the people killing each other as we speak, all in the name of _some_ deity. _Some_ divine consciousness." He looked around him, absentmindedly, shaking his head, "Religion will find a way..." he looked back at her, his expression gently final, "And people will die. Because of an _idea_."

Myra looked him up and down, an unfamiliar indignation moving through her, "Since when did _you_ become an atheist?" she got to her feet, moving over to him, "You fought the _devil_. You went down to the heart of his domain and sent him into oblivion and you _still_ have no belief?" He didn't reply, and, after a while, she took pity on him, and shook her head, slowly, "This creature. You said it was _made_, not born. So who made it."

He shrugged, "I don't know."

"Then what does it _want_? Why are you tracking it?"

He shook his head, immediately, turning away from her and reaching into his pocket, pulling out the metal scanner, looking it over her, "Oh, just... passing interest. I was running a few scans, just calibrating the systems - long story - and I just sort of _noticed_ it, a blip, that's all. But I wasn't looking for trouble, honestly, I just thought, a Tachyon multiform in the middle of thirteenth century Korea, well, why _not_? I set the TARDIS on course but it managed to get away from me, it hopped to another time. And I followed it."

"What d'you mean it hopped to another time."

"Stolen technology."

"_God_, is anything _not_ stolen these days? So, what, a Time Agent Vortex Manipulator?"

"No, subtler than that." The Doctor paused, leaning back against the wall, and she watched him for a second. She was completely absorbed, yet again.

Slowly, she settled back onto the desk, swinging her legs back underneath her, "So what is it?"

He let his head lean back, staring thoughtfully into space, "It's said that, sometimes, if you stand at the base of a Time Storm, unprotected, with nothing to tether you to your own world, and see the heart of it and survive, for long enough... it opens up a rift in Time. The rift echoes through you, works its way into your head and unlocks some latent abilities, something nature never intended."

"Like the heart of the TARDIS, decoding alien languages."

"Exactly. But this one isn't quite as friendly. It doesn't just _enter_ your mind, it rips a hole right through it. Usually no-one can survive it. But... they say that that's how the Trickster travels through time."

"The _Trickster_?" she repeated, "But... what's _he_ got to do with this?"

"Well, the _anthromorph_ - that's what it's called, more or less, _anthromorph_ - was once a member of the _Trickster's_ Brigade, years and years ago, _millennia_, but it was thrown out."

"What for?"

"Treason."

"_Treason_?"

He shook his head, darkly, "Oh yes. You see, the Trickster's Brigade is a group of different people - humans, aliens, Graske - that serve the Trickster himself."

"Voluntarily?"

"Sometimes. They're pests, mostly, they feed on time, _well_, on... _disorder_ of time, more likely. There's not much really known about them... it's not _actually_ known whether they feed on disorder at _all_, maybe they just _like_ it. But, either way, the Brigade are just tools, the _Trickster's_ the one that _needs_ it. He can't survive _without_ it, it seems."

"An agent of chaos..." Myra murmured, thoughtfully.

He looked at her, smiling slightly, "Oh, that's _good_. I _like __**that**_."

She shrugged, indifferently, "It's from Batman. So the anthromorph went up against the Trickster?"

"Yes. You see, how_ever_ they got to be there, the Brigade serve the Trickster without question. They follow his deeds, obey his commands. The anthromorph joined the Brigade because that's what it thought it _was_. A _Trickster_. But it took on the Lost Sphere's talent for hunger and it couldn't control it. It used the power to try to erase the other members, _succeeded_, on quite a few. And then it turned on the Trickster. Managed to absorb his powers. The Trickster ordered its destruction, and it fled. So far. It hopped from dimension to dimension, era to era, never stopping. Still hungry. But it had to be subtle now the Trickster was on its trail. It jumped to battles, wars, ancient history and far out future, absorbing in battle."

"Where it wasn't noticed."

"That must be why I found it in Korea. 1269... the Mongol invasions of Goryeo. Claimed _millions_, _**millions**_. Burned on for thirty-nine years, give or take."

Myra looked up at him, raising an eyebrow, "Funny place to take a day trip."

"Just patching up loose ends. I was there when the envoy Chu-ku-yu was killed, the start of the war. I wanted to see its end."

She shrugged, "Fair enough, I suppose. So why did you follow it?"

The Doctor gave the smallest of hesitations, "Call it a hobby."

"Doctor." He paused, and she drew in a deep breath, "You wouldn't follow this thing halfway around the universe for a _hobby_. This anthromorph. It kills, doesn't it."

He looked at her for a moment, his face expressionless. "Yes."

"And you said it has to be _subtle_, has to _think_, so it doesn't pick its prey at _random_, _does_ it."

"No."

"It latches onto a food source and keeps it fresh. Until a time that it can be consumed without notice." She waited a beat, "Like Vashta Nerada."

"Yes."

"But this one's clever. This one _thinks_. It's been forced to. And it hungers, Doctor, you said so yourself. And it wanted... _me_? I don't think so."

He looked at her, his eyes foreboding, daring her to make the connection.

"It wanted _you_. Didn't it. From the moment it first saw you." He kept his silence, so she carried on: "It saw you, a Time Lord, and it saw the TARDIS, the raw power of time and space, and it couldn't _help_ itself. Destroying _you_... that would change so much. So much chaos. It could feed off you for the rest of its life. Daleks, Cybermen, Axons, Sontarans, _all alive_, _all __**killing**_." She looked at him for a second, and then shook her head, "You can't let that happen."

He shot her a small smile, "I wasn't intending to."

She returned the gesture. Then she shook her head, "But it had to have _some_ way to draw you in. And _that_... that was me. Wasn't it." She paused for a moment, running her tongue over the inside of her teeth, thoughtfully, looking down at the wood of the table, "I'm the bait. You said you didn't know me but that doesn't matter to you, does it. From the second we met I could hear it in your voice. Concern. Even though you'd no idea who I was. How..." she paused, and then let the word linger in her mouth: "_Sentimental_..."

The Doctor paused, looking at her, "Myra? Are you there?"

She glanced up at him, almost idly, her thoughts remarkably calm, "Hmm? Oh, yes, don't worry. It's still me." Back to the table, "But it's trying to break through."

"Don't let it."

"Easier said than done, Doctor. I'm trying."

"Try harder."

"It can hear us. It can follow our progress. It wants to know where we are." She tilted her head slightly to one side, listening, the voice soft and gentle in her head, a great contrast to the screaming of before, "It wants you to know something."

"What." He asked, softly. She didn't reply, and he put a hand on her bare skin, on her elbow, and waited until she looked at him, "_What_."

She shook her head, "You told me to stop the link."

He hesitated, "Yes. I know."

"But... you want me to open it again?"

"That's up to you." He moved his hand on her arm, subtly, as if trying to make sure the touch would be enough to keep the anthromorph at bay, "Do you think you can control it?"

"I don't know." She paused for a second, thinking, and then shook her head, "Only one way to find out."

She took his hand and put it back on the table. Her hand lingered on his for a second, and then she pulled back.

**Well done. Now let us through properly.**

She paused, and then shook her head, "No. No, I don't think so."

The Doctor watched her, cautiously, but didn't speak.

**We said let us **_**through**_**.**

"And _I_ said _no_."

The pain in her head suddenly returned and she recoiled, forcing a hand to her forehead, the voice far from gentle now: _**Let us THROUGH!**_

"_No_." She paused for a moment, gritting her teeth, forcing herself to ignore the pain, and then shook her head, "Tell me what to say and I'll say it. But there's no way I'm letting you out again."

_**Well**_**... still got a little **_**fight**_** in you, we see?**

"Yes."

**But why should we obey **_**you**_**. Why shouldn't we just tear a hole through your mind until you have no choice, what's stopping us.**

"_I_ am. Break through my mind? Like the Time Storm did to _you_? Not a chance. You said you wanted your information coming from a friendly face. What do you want me to say." There was a long pause, and she gave a small, grim smile, "You know you can't force me. I fought you off when I wasn't even _ready_ for it, so come on. Try it again. I dare you."

He paused, and then a sigh moved through her, **Alright, Myra Hull. Alright. But he's **_**your**_** Doctor, now, isn't he? Is that what you want?**

"Get to the point." She ordered, softly.

**Look around you.**

Myra glanced back up at him, "Look around you."

The Doctor frowned, and then got to his feet, surveying the area around them. Myra stayed where she was, hand supporting her on the table, back propped against the wall, "Where's this going?"

**You'll see.**

"Just answer the question."

**You're afraid of him, aren't you?**

Myra paused, keeping her eyes on the desk, "No."

**No, sorry, not of **_**him**_**, you're afraid of what he might **_**do**_**.**

"Why would I be."

**Because of **_**us**_**. You're afraid he might leave you here... Because of **_**us**_**. And then you'd be **_**stranded**_** here, wouldn't you? Stuck here for the rest of your life.**

She tensed, automatically, and shook her head, "No. He wouldn't do that."

**Really? Maybe we should test that, yeah? Maybe we should... **_**rouse**_** the Time Lord, how about that.**

She looked around her. She could hear the sound of opening doors somewhere down the corridor, but she couldn't see him. "No."

**Why don't you ask him about Gallifrey? Why don't you ask him about his **_**people**_**.**

"_No_."

**Why don't you ask him... about... **_**Rose Tyler**_**.**

"No." She replied, quietly. She was shaking slightly. "No. I won't do that. I won't do that to him."

**Ah, but it won't be just affecting **_**him**_**, **_**will**_** it? He cares for you, but... what if he didn't? He's already **_**suspicious**_**, **_**isn't**_** he? Then... if the worst comes to the worst... we could always feed on **_**you**_**.**

"What, _me_?" she fought to keep her voice steady, "A _human_? Is that what you've reduced to now, _anthromorph_? You won't get much chaos out of _my_ life. That's why you want the life of a Time Lord. One _particular_ Time Lord."

**The **_**only remaining**_** Time Lord.**

"Yeah, I wouldn't be so sure of that..." she muttered, keeping her voice low, "_You_ haven't seen series _five_..."

**What words you use, Myra Hull. What **_**images**_** in your head. You are **_**fascinating**_**... And you will help us destroy this Time Lord's soul. You will help us break him before we **_**consume**_** him.**

"_No_. I won't do it."

**It won't be your **_**choice**_**, **_**Myra Hull**_**. You are **_**nothing**_**, just **_**bait**_**, that is all you are. And we can break you if we must.**

She got sharply to her feet, anger and fear powering her, "And I can stop you if I have to. Just one touch, that's it, just one touch and you're back in your own head before you know what _hit_ you!"

**Oh, a touch from a Time Lord? Go ahead, **_**try**_** it. Because that might be just one step easier. He's already suspicious of you, isn't he? You only just managed to placate him with your lies, **_**friend of Martha Jones**_**. **_**We**_** know you're no friend of Martha Jones, what if we were to **_**tell**_** him. What if we were to arouse his suspicions even **_**further**_**.**

She stopped in her tracks, taking in a breath, "It wouldn't be enough for him to leave me. No way."

**Really?** The thing asked, sounding almost like the Time Lord himself, **Bet your life?**

Myra hesitated, thinking quickly.

"_Myra_? What's it saying?"

She didn't move. Her heart was beating fast in her chest.

**Go on then. Tell him. Call our bluff, if that's what you think it is.**

"_Myra_! Has it said anything else?"

She shook her head, slowly, licking her lip. Then she moved back against the wall, leaning her head back against it, wearily.

**That's a good girl. Now. You just hush now. Let **_**us**_** do the work.**

There was a clap-clap-clap and the squeak of skidding rubber as the Doctor shuddered to a halt in front of her, eyes animated, his entire frame shivering with realisation, "I'm _thick_! Look at me, I'm _thick_, how did I not _notice_ it?!"

"Notice what, Doctor." She asked, softly.

"This is a _hospital_! And what's the one thing that makes a hospital a hospital?" he paused, shooting her a smile, "_Patients_!"

With that he spun on his heel, sprinting back down the corridor to the nearest door. She followed him at a less quick pace, her head still spinning, and stopped at the same door, looking at it.

"Take a look for yourself." He said, raising an eyebrow, his eyes fixed on her. He swung the door open, and she looked inside. There was a row of beds lining the wall opposite them, and another on the wall to their right. All were empty. Myra looked back up at him, nonplussed. He went onto the next door, and opened it.

"_Empty_. All empty, _all_ of them, _every single one_, _**empty**_. A hospital with _no patients_, _**and**_..." he swung open another door, letting it smash back against the wall with an uncomfortably loud echo, "No staff! No patients and no staff, a _hospital_, with _no patients and __**no staff**_! No _people_! _Nothing_!"

Myra's eyes moved around the empty room. Her heart was fluttering again.

_You __**can't**__._ She thought, weakly, looking around the room.

**Sorry, Myra Hull. Had to have a **_**back**_**-up plan, **_**didn't**_** we.**

Myra kept looking at the empty beds. She could feel the Doctor's eyes on her back, but didn't try to meet them. "It's _silent_. The whole building. Even Doctor Sedley's gone, can't find a trace of him." He paused, and then moved round into her sightline, his voice softening: "Myra. Myra, look at me now."

She opened her eyes, obediently, and lowered her head down level with his. He checked her eyes, quickly, concernedly. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder and then stopped, remembering, and let his hand fall back to his side, "Myra? I need to talk to him, Myra."

She shook her head, immediately, "I can't. Doctor, I _can't_."

"If anything goes wrong, I'll stop him." He said, softly, "Straight away, I promise you. But we need to find out what happened here. Okay?"

Myra hesitated. Then she nodded, slowly, "Okay. Alright, okay." She paused for one more second, and then shook her head. She was going to regret this... She braced herself against the wall, knowing exactly how weak she felt when she let the thing through. She paused, took a long, deep breath, and then let him through.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6: A Softer Touch

_Mbea's Trickster number 6 - 'A Softer Touch'. The Doctor and the anthromorph try to talk out their differences, and Myra sees the eyes of a Time Lord._

_Disclaimer - I do not own Doctor Who._

* * *

**Chapter 6 - A Softer Touch**

"Doctor. Long time no see. Must be... what... three hundred years? Over five thousand _miles_, _anyway_..."

The Doctor looked at her for a moment, "Since when could _you __**see**_."

"We have full synchronisation, now. This body is mine."

"The body is _hers_. _Myra's_. And don't you go doing anything clever, I want that body safe, you hear me?"

"Oh, don't worry, Doctor. We're not going far in this state. She's weak."

"I thought you said she was _strong_."

She smiled slightly, "Yes. But you told her not to fight it. And we are weak in this form. We cannot travel far. Humans are _weak_, Doctor."

He leaned back, seeming to consider her for a moment, and then shook his head, "The staff, the patients, where are they."

"As if I'd tell _you_, _**Doctor**_." Myra's hand clenched tighter on the frame of the door, keeping herself forcefully upright, keeping her eyes on the floor, "But it's all on you. You always seem willing to give your life for others, is that right?" she moved her head back slightly, still not looking at him, "The Daleks. In Manhattan. _Then kill me, kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people, then __**do**__ it, __**do**__ it, just __**do**__ it, __**DO **__**IT**__!_"

The silence echoed for a while, and then she smiled again, "You would've _let_ them, _too_. Without a second's thought."

"How do you know about that."

"It's in her head." Myra raised a shaking hand to her temple, brushing back her hair, "And if it's in _hers_, it's in _mine_."

"And how does _she_ know about it."

"Well... I could tell you a thing or two about _that_..."

Then she stopped, stumbled backwards, "No." Myra pushed through with all her might, taking another step backwards, catching herself on an exposed nail on the doorframe and pulling herself back off it, pushing her hand back against the wall, "Doctor."

The Doctor followed her, slowly, his steps cautious, "Myra?"

She shook her head, quickly, her breathing quickening, her heart thumping.

**How d'you want us to answer that, Myra Hull? **It asked, viciously, **Come on, you and me together. What should we say.**

He stood forwards, anger and curiosity animating him, "Okay, so you can't answer that, that's fine, but the _patients_. The _staff_. _Tell me where they are_!"

Myra stopped, and then stilled, and her hand slid back down the wall, the anthromorph tightening its hold again, "Surrender or they die. To quote the Sycorax."

He shook his head, "How do I _surrender_ when I don't know where you _are_!"

"Take the girl. Take the child. Send her to me."

He shook his head, giving a small, grim laugh, "_No_ chance."

"It's the only way of keeping your _honesty_, Doctor." She paused, considering, her fingers patting out a light rhythm on the wall beside her, "You are so old now. You used to have so much mercy. Would you care if these humans died?"

"_Yes_." He replied, immediately, insistently.

"Perhaps. But the life of this one seems to mean more to you. You have connected. You will not leave her now." She smiled again, "Isn't that right, Myra."

"Let me go in her place." He said, slowly, "You don't need her. Let her go."

**Well how about **_**that**_**...**

"Oh, but I think I do. If only to keep you under _control_." Myra twitched and she doubled over, fire brewing in her chest, pain sparking behind her eyes, "You like to see your humans in pain, _Doctor_? But this one has such _heart_, such _spirit_, you know she refused to help us? She refused to help us break you, Doctor. Maybe I should burn her mind..."

"No."

"...or maybe I should take _her_, instead. Not much of a meal, not much chaos from _this_ life, but still, one hell of a finale, don't you think?"

"_No_!"

* * *

Myra's eyes shot up to his, and her heart started to beat faster, faster, and her breathing was coming close in her lungs. He hadn't stepped forwards. It just _felt_ like he did. The Doctor's eyes burned with anger, _fury_, and she could _see_ him, the Oncoming Storm, fire and ice and rage, and her soul stopped and her body shook. The tapping, the four-beat rhythm on the wall, was getting faster.

"Your eyes..." she managed, quietly, trying to shy away from them but not quite able to, "Gallifrey shines through you, Time Lord. How can one so young have eyes so _old_."

"You won't harm her." He said, his voice low with danger and warning, "And you won't harm _them_."

"And who's going to stop us. _You_?"

"If I have to." He replied, darkly, "Don't think I won't."

"You think you _frighten_ us?" the thing snarled, "We do not fear you, _Doctor_. You _cannot stop _us."

The Doctor looked at her for a moment, and then gave a small, lopsided smile, "Bet your life?"

This time he _did_ step forwards, and when she tried to recoil back, this time he didn't let her. He took a sharp hold on her wrist, pulling the tapping hand away from the wall, pulling it up to her chest, tightening his grip as she struggled.

She snarled and fought with his grip, "And, _o__h_, the touch of a Time Lord, _burning_ through us, but not this time, not with _this_ connection, you're going to have to think of something a bit more substantial to break _this_!"

"Well that's good, then, 'cause I think I already _have_." He let go of her hand and put his hands on her shoulders, gently, urging her to look at him, "Myra, send him back. Send him back now."

Myra struggled, fighting with both him and the thing, her brain muddled, confused, "Doctor."

"Send him back."

"He's too strong."

"Just send him back, Myra."

"I've only got one way."

"And what's that."

She looked at him for a moment, her body still firmly trying to get away but her eyes drawing him nearer, "Two steps back."

He paused, considering her, and then did as she said, pulling her back with him.

"When I say, let go. Ready?"

He nodded, immediately, "Ready."

"_Now_!"

He let her go and she pulled her hand around, reaching out for the doorframe and securing a very firm grip, dragging her hand down it. The exposed nail cut into her flesh and she stumbled back, cursing under her breath, pain flooding through her as blood trickled down her palm. She grimaced and brought the cut up to her eyes.

She ran a gentle thumb down it, flinching as pain sparked up again, breathing through gritted teeth, "Pain. When I caught my shoulder on the doorframe, just for a second, I found it easier. Gave me an idea." She looked at him, "Apparently having the host in pain - or, at least, in pain that it hadn't _caused_ - isn't so good for it."

"Not so good for _you_, _**either**_." he chided, quietly, taking a step towards her, "Can I?"

She held out her hand and he took it, softly, his hands moving over her skin, his touch even more gentle than _hers_, "You need to cover this."

"I'm alright. I've had my Tetanus jab." She went to pull her hand away but he kept his grip firm, his eyes searching out hers. She paused, looking at him, and then sighed, "Fine."

She took her hand away, firmly, and then moved into the room full of empty beds, glancing around until she found a small wooden table on wheels, covered in scalpels and knives. The sight of them made her shiver, and she promptly forced it back down. She crouched and opened a drawer, favouring her right hand, and searched around until her hand hit something soft.

She pulled it out, turning around to face him, "Cloth bandage. Could I enlist your help, _Doctor_?"

After a moment, her echoed her small smile, and walked towards her, "You shouldn't have done that."

"You told me to get rid of him."

He glanced up at her, pausing in dressing her wound, raising an eyebrow, "And my word's _law_ all of a sudden, is it?" he moved his eyes back, working the bandage under her arm, back up again, "Don't hurt yourself again, hear me?"

"I thought you didn't _do_ orders?"

He smiled slightly, concentration fixed on her wound, "I'm trying to help you, Myra."

"If it gets him out my head I'll chop my own goddamn hand off." She replied, easily, adamantly, "I won't let him manipulate me again. _Or_ you."

He nodded, thoughtfully, "There's another way to get him out of your head." He finished the bandage, tying a knot she didn't recognise across her wrist, and then looked up at her, his eyes perfectly serious, "I know a way we can find him. But you've gotta trust me."

He raised his hands up to her temples and, instinctively, she flinched back, "What are you doing."

He gave a small smile, "Hoping."

"That what?"

He paused, looking at her for a second, "That a door once opened can be stepped through in either direction."

Myra looked at him. His eyes hadn't moved from hers. She hesitated, and then gave a small, shaky nod. He nodded back, and then put his hands on her skin.

* * *

Myra drew in a long, deep breath and her eyes fluttered closed. She felt still, calm, like a weight had been lifted. Her heart had returned to its usual pace, _slowed_, even. She could feel his hands on her slightly flushed face, fingers under her hair, so soft.

"Doctor." She managed, her voice breathless.

"It's alright, Myra. Just relax."

His voice was so soft, so soothing. She melted to his touch, allowed him to flick through her memories. They were back in Telford again, back in Donnington, where she grew up. She hadn't moved far. She had wanted to stay near.

A woman walked through a thin, papered hall, her mother, carrying a tray. His touch was so soft, even the anthromorph's attempts at the height of its subtlety seemed barbaric now. He moved through her memories as if he were one of them, not a stranger, not an intruder, as if he _belonged_ there.

A child ran through a garden of grass, a girl, screaming, laughing. Her sister, Faye, followed closer by her father, who deftly swept her up into his arms, laughing along with her.

Myra could sense the Doctor's smile, feel the soft murmur of something close to appreciation.

"Faye." She said, for his benefit.

"I know." He replied, gently, "Now, let's just... here we go."

The memories went faster, _faster_, cycling through years in seconds, and she was waking up in the hospital bed, a stranger in front of her, a _familiar stranger_, and she was in the corridor with him, at the door, back in the corridor, on the desk, and then...

"_Oh_, there he is." The Doctor's voice was a beacon. She latched onto it. Her body jerked as he gently pushed her back towards the memory, and he immediately soothed her: "Okay, Myra, okay, you're okay. I've got you. I promise."

She opened her eyes, just for a moment, looking at him, reassuring her mind. He was frowning, his concentration fixed. She closed them again, feeling him delve a little deeper, coming out of her now and into him, into the anthromorph.

"Here we go. _There_ we go..."

"Can you see him." She murmured, frowning slightly herself, the memory of the creature attacking her mind not a pleasant one.

"Nearly, nearly, just a little bit longer."

"Hurry."

"Okay, nearly there..." he paused for a moment, scanning something she now couldn't see, and then his grip on her head tightened just the slightest bit, "_Gotcha_. Okay, relax now. Let's go."

He drew back away from her, and she echoed his movement. She kept her eyes closed and let her back lean against the wall, supporting her. She let her breathing slow. Her mother was still walking, Faye still running. She shook her head, firmly, shaking off the aftershock of memories.

Then she opened her eyes. She caught the Doctor's eyes and gave a small smile, "About time."

But he didn't respond. He was just looking at her, concern and curiosity in his eyes, "Your mind..."

She paused, warning bells ringing inside of her, and her body tensed, "What about it?"

"You thought..." he paused, and then shook his head, "You thought I would leave you. You thought I'd leave you here."

She hesitated, and then shook her head, "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does." He moved back towards her, putting his hand back on her cheek, smoothing back her hair. His eyes stole hers. "I will _never leave you here_, Myra. Believe that."

She looked at him, looked at the pure truth in his eyes, and all the doubt drained away. The creature's words, the deep fears, all of it, _gone_. He saw the change, and smiled, softly, "There we go. That's better."

"Yes. Yes, it is." She waited a beat, and then gave a small, slightly uncomfortable laugh, stepping backwards and letting his hand slide off her cheek, "So. What now."

His smile grew, slowly, until it lit up his whole face, "_Now_, Myra Hull... we're gunna save the world."

She paused, and then echoed the smile, "Destination?"

He turned away, animation and passion burning in him, "Planet Mbea. Sarian System. Over four galaxies away. Interstellar Plutocracy..." he turned to her, grinning again, pointing up to the ceiling above them and slightly to the left, and shot her a wink, "_That_ way."

Her smile grew and she felt flutters of excitement in her stomach. His enthusiasm was infectious.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7: The TARDIS

_Mbea's Trickster __**numéro sept**__, 'The TARDIS'. Quite a short one this time, Myra finally steps inside the last remaining TT Capsule, and is greeted by a small slice of home._

_Disclaimer - I do not own Doctor Who. Or the TARDIS. Which I think we all know would be awesome..._

* * *

**Chapter 7 - The TARDIS**

The Doctor's pace was fast, not quite running yet, but he was getting near it. Myra kept the pace, keeping by his side, and, as they neared the door, she didn't stop. He took her hand, and the anthromorph immediately retreated. She stepped straight out into the sunlight, looking around her at the busy, cobbled streets, a smile moving onto her face. The Doctor shot her a grin, and then they were running.

He pulled her onwards, dragging her around corners when she tried to stop and glance at the scenery, the one big spire shadowing the crooked streets, "Is that Chichester Cathedral?"

"Come on, you can play tourist _later_! We gotta get to the TARDIS and synchronise before he jumps again!"

"The TARDIS..." she paused, feeling the flitters of anticipation move through her, "Well, I'm looking forward to _this_..."

They kept running, covering streets in no time, until the Doctor shuddered to a halt, doubling back on himself and grabbing hold of a small wall. A grin spread on to his face, "_Ha_! _There_ she is! _Knew_ she was around here somewhere."

Myra skidded to a halt, doubling over, putting her hands on her knees and battling with her breathing, "You _always_ forget where you park? God, you're worse than my _dad_!"

"Oi! D'you mind?" he pulled a key out of his trouser pocket, pushing the trench coat back, and then brought it up. The click of a lock going home sounded sharp in the air and then a creak as he pulled open the door.

Myra managed to pull herself together, and straightened up. She froze. The six blue panels, the too-small windows, the framed light... POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX... it was the TARDIS. The _real TARDIS_, here she was, standing in front of the _TARDIS_!

She pulled in another breath, shaking her head, slowly. She reached out a shaking hand, and then ran it down the wood. She glanced round the side, her hand feeling out the corner.

"You alright?"

She started, reflexively moving back a step. The Doctor kept his eyes on her, his head tilted down slightly, eyebrow raised.

She shook her head, immediately, "I'm fine."

"Do you know what's inside."

She drew in a breath, "There's hearing and there's seeing." She paused, looking at the door, where he was.

He pushed the door open a bit more, not quite enough for her to see inside, and then nodded to his left, "Come on."

He moved back, silently. She looked at him. She knew she was shaking, but she didn't care. Slowly, she took her first step. She glanced up at him, and he nodded, encouragingly. She took a breath. And then stepped inside.

* * *

Myra looked around her. Curved pillars snaked up to the roof, grew past the panelled walls, and the time rotor stood tall in the middle of the room, already moving, preparing for launch at the return of its master. The floor under her feet was a red-tiled ramp, leading up to the main platform. The whole place whistled and cooed, and on the console lights shone and faded, motors whirring and ticking over. The whole place was just... _alive_.

Myra stayed frozen by the door, her hand brushing the metal railing beside her.

"So." The Doctor said, quietly, drawing her attention momentarily away from the machine, "Questions?"

She shook her head, amazed, looking around her, "No. This is the TARDIS. The last TARDIS in existence. Grown on Gallifrey, the Shining World of the Seven Systems. A living organism."

He moved his head back slightly, him too leaning back on the railings, "Okay. So what d'you think?"

"I think..." she looked around her again, letting her eyes move up to the roof and then down to the levels below. Then she shook her head, and moved her eyes back to his. She paused, and then a smile spread onto her face, "I think it's _fantastic_."

* * *

The Doctor looked at her for a second, and then echoed her smile, "Really?"

"Oh, she's _beautiful_!" Myra walked up the ramp, quickly, pulling herself round to the console and looking at it, completely awed, "I mean, this is just... _amazing_."

She reached out a hand to touch it.

"Hey!" she stopped, immediately, glancing at him, "You touch the wrong button and you rip apart the whole space-time continuum."

She paused, and then remembered where she was and nodded, slowly, "_Right_... Okay then." She backed off, raising her hands in a sign of retreat and then putting them firmly behind her back.

She kept looking it over, though, circling the console with an interest and enthusiasm she had never felt before, her eyes scanning over buttons, switches, monitors, smiling slightly as she recognised the instruments without thought.

"You actually have a hammer? Oh my God, you _actually have a hammer_!"

He frowned at her, teasingly, "You got a problem with that?"

"No! I mean... well, I never believed it!"

He smiled again, and then snapped back into action, shrugging off his coat and throwing it casually onto a gap in one of the coral pillars, striding over to her, "Right, now then, let's get moving!"

He took the small scanner from his pocket and plugged it into something that looked like a VHS player and the console responded with a few beeps and ringing chimes, "Good, we've still got him, just synchronising..." three bells sounded and he nodded, satisfied, "There! Now, off we go!" he flicked a switch up by the rotor and pressed down a pedal on the base with his foot, "Myra, circular blue button to your left, keep it down, and the lever in front of you, level it at six."

She moved forwards immediately, doing as he said, having to lean right over the console to reach properly, "Yes _sir_!"

The Doctor grinned and shot her a wink before quickly returning to the console, turning a knob fully to the left, "Now!" he glanced back at her, still smiling, "What d'you think? What next?"

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "How would _I_ know?"

"You know quite a _lot_ of things you're not supposed to know, Myra Hull." He nodded at the console, "Impress me."

"Okay..." Myra paused, thinking hard, and then shook her head, "Gravitic Anomalizer?"

He smiled, "Right in one." He yanked a lever up, clicking it into place, "Next?"

"Oh, wait, don't tell me... Helman Regulator?"

"_Helmic_ Regulator."

"_Helmic_, of course..."

He slid a button into place, pressing it down with his thumb and using his wrist to force another into place, "Well _done_, Myra Hull." He looked at her, smiling again, "You're good. _Very_ good."

She smiled, "Thankyou."

"Now, destination: Mbea, Sarian System, say the year... 52000." He pushed a button with a flourish, grabbing hold of a circular strap attached to the console, wrapping it around his wrist and keeping his grip tight, "I'd grab a hold of something, if I were you. This is likely to be a rough trip." The Doctor glanced up at her, his smile now almost manic, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "No-one's survived flying through the Blockade before. _No_-one. It's supposed to be impossible."

"Since when have you let _that_ stop you?" She replied, keeping her smile, wrapping her wrist likewise around the nearest hand strap, tightening her hold.

His eyes glittered, "Ready?"

"Set?" she replied, raising her eyebrows, teasingly.

"_Go_!"

He yanked the handbrake down and the TARDIS rocketed into action, throwing Myra back against the railings, "_Whoa_!"

"_Blimey_!"

She laughed, shaking her head, "Fan_tastic_!"

"You're telling _me_!" he moved round, levelling switches, pressing button, pushing her hand down onto a lever when it started moving out of place, "You know what, how about a little background music, hey? Let's see... maybe... oh yes!" he looked up at her, grinning, "Track five!"

A low bass line punctured over the whirring of the rotor in remarkable surround-sound, a drummed-up, electric feel, what Myra's mother would have called classic cyber-rock, and she started smiling, "Wait a second... _This_ is..."

He smiled, "_Oh_ yes!"

"ELO!"

"_Ha_!"

"_Fantastic_!"

_Sun is __shinin'__ in the sky, there aint a cloud in sight._

He started moving around the controls, flipping switches, singing along in a low bass, an almost remarkable likeness of Jeff Lynne himself: "It's stopped rainin', everybody's in a play and don't you know -"

Myra smiled, "It's a beautiful new day! Hey!"

The Doctor threw back his head and laughed.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8: The Lost Sphere

_Mbea's Trickster __**número ocho**__, 'The Lost Sphere'. The magic of ELO speeds the TARDIS on its way and Myra realises just how difficult keeping up a lie with a Time Lord can be._

_Disclaimer - Mbea's mine, Doctor Who's not :)_

* * *

**Chapter 8 - The Lost Sphere**

_Hey you with the pretty face! Welcome to the __hu-man__ race!_

"Whoa, watch it!"

"Keep her _steady_!"

"_I __**am**_!"

_And today is the day we've waited for!_

"Myra, that thing, that, that handle, left hand, pull it up, all the way up."

Myra immediately did as he said, forcing it up with all her might, "Done!"

"Hold on!"

"How are you going to get over the Blockade, I thought you said anything within five thousand miles gets sucked in!"

"We're not going over it." He glanced up at her, caught her eyes, and then back to the console, throwing up a lever with an added burst of relish, "We're going _through_ it!"

"_What_?!"

"Oh yes!"

"You're _insane_!"

"Oh yes!"

_Hey there, Mister Blue, we're so pleased to be with you, look around see what you do - everybody smiles at you!_

The room shook violently, and Myra was battered back into the nearest pillar, then back into the console again.

The Doctor pumped a piston at waist height, his other hand stroking the base, rubbing the metal, encouragingly, "Oh, come on, my _beautiful __**ship**_! You can do it, _come_ _**on**_!"

A spark of electricity flashed through the controls near her and she took a sharp step back, flinching away from the heat, "_Doctor_!"

He moved round to her "Oh no no no no NO!" he flicked some switches, pulling levers, flinching back himself when the TARDIS threw some sparks _his_ way, "Oh, behave!" he shook his head and went into his jacket's left inside pocket, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, flicking a few switches and then forcing it into a small socket by the levers, "Come on come on come _on_..."

He put the tube back in his pocket, kicking a lever to his right when a small alarm broke through the ELO, then burrowing in his pockets once again. Myra held on to the strap, grimly, the ship buffeting the two around into each other. Finally, he brought out a roll of silver duct tape, tearing off a line with his teeth and sticking the console firmly back into place, "Sorry about that, she's an old girl, you see, lots of aches and pains."

"Don't worry about _me_, worry about where you're going!"

"Right, will do." He turned back to his own section which had begun to spark.

An explosion racketed through the entire base and sent him flying straight back into the railing again, "Whoa! Whoa, _whoa_, that's quite enough of _that_!" he turned to Myra, "Tape!"

She looked around her, frantically, and then caught sight of the roll of tape on the floor beside her. She shook her head and then, unable to take her hands off the controls, stretched out her leg, grimacing, managing to catch the roll on her foot.

She dragged it towards her and then her hand darted down to retrieve it. She straightened, "Heads up!"

He caught it without even looking, and immediately started to tape down some more buttons on his end, "Come on, girl, this isn't over _yet_." He continued murmuring, half to his ship and half to himself, "But soon comes Mister Night creepin' over - now his hand is on your shoulder..." he glanced back at her, shooting her a grin that made her feel as equally amused as she was terrified, "_Damn_, that's catchy! Come on then, what are we waiting for?! _Faster_!"

He threw up another lever and the momentum threw them around the space. Myra stumbled back to her feet, grabbing hold of the hand strap, winding it tightly around her wrist, "You know what, I swear this thing should have seatbelts..." she muttered, shaking her head, incredulously, "Is it _always_ like this?"

The Doctor gave out a bark of a laugh, "Oh yes! Time Lord, TARDIS, all of time and space, I _love_ it! _Molto_ bene! Allons-_y_!"

"You know what, Doctor?"

"What?"

"_God_, I hate you."

He let out another cackling laugh and then spun around with a flourish, attacking the console yet again, "Yes, that's it, come on girl, come on girl, _come ON_!"

Sparks flew again, and this time they caught, a small fire crackling over the seat behind him. Myra's eyes followed it, shaking her head, "Doctor -"

"Myra, not now, we're hitting the Core."

"_Doctor_..."

A lever flipped down on its own accord and the Doctor let out a small, frustrated snarl, leaning over and only just managing to reach it to push it back up, "Yeah, kinda busy!"

"_**Doctor**__!_"

"_**What**__?!_"

"_The TARDIS is on FIRE_!"

"_WHAT?!_" He spun around, and seeing the fire, stumbled back a few steps, "Oh, _cut_ it out!" he managed to stagger away, the floor buckling beneath his feet, yanking a small metal cylinder off the wall and spraying what looked like highly-pressurised gas at the flames, "Myra, the stabiliser, keep it _down_!"

"_Down_?! It's a _stabiliser_, surely it should stay _stable_!"

"Just do as I say and _keep it down_!"

She recoiled a little at his tone and then let go of the switches and pedals she had been balancing and turned to the big lever in the middle of the console, using both hands and all her strength to force it back down.

A cooing siren started, echoing through the room, "Doctor?"

He shook his head, still battling with the flames, "Ignore it, keep that lever down!"

"_Why_, what does it _do_?"

The flames out, he ducked out of sight behind the rotor, throwing the extinguisher to the floor, "Just trust me, Myra, the system's gunna resist, but you've gotta kept it down, hear me?"

"_Fine_, okay, _alright_."

The lever shuddered in her hand but she kept it firmly down, her eyes now scanning the room, trying to see around the rotor to find out what he was doing, "_Doctor_?"

"I'm here!"

"Just... the amount of power we're using... just to get through to the other side... won't we sort of... well..."

He poked his head round the rotor, "Crash land? Oh, most definitely!" a violent quake flew through the floor and he clicked a few buttons on the desk, "Here we go! Ready?"

"No!"

"Three... two... one... and we're through!"

Myra let out a little scream as the impact threw her backwards into a pillar, the restraint on her wrist the only thing keeping her in the centre.

"Myra, hold on! _Hold on_!"

She gritted her teeth and pulled herself back towards the console, lodging herself between the desk and the pillar, "What now?"

"All those switches on the desk, all of them, flip them down!"

"And turn her off?!" she replied, shouting over the crashing background, "No _way_!"

"Just _DO IT_!"

She hesitated, and then shook her head, quickly flicking down switches. She could see the Doctor doing the same on his end.

"_Come_ on." he growled, his voice both urging and admiring, "_Come_ on, girl! _**Come**__ on, you BEAUTY_!"

The ship stopped with a violent jerk, and Myra fell backwards onto the floor, sliding back a few feet from the controls. The blare of _Mister Blue Sky_ had silenced, and the only sound was the soft whirr as the machine ticked over.

She lay there for a moment, breathless, and then, when the TARDIS didn't move and the ground beneath her stayed still, she began to laugh, all her emotions leaving her, "_Doctor_!"

The Doctor popped round from the other side, remarkably still standing and already pulling on his coat, looking down at her, "Well what you doing down _there_ for??" He strode over to her and pulled her to her feet, and then span on his heel, running back towards the door, not stopping, "The Lost Sphere awaits!"

Myra followed him, quickly, and ran out the door.

* * *

Her foot hit hard sand. She moved her eyes up. Sand. For as far as the eye could see. Mountains of sand and rock. Heat blazed on her face. Two huge suns burned on the horizon, and thin wisps of clouds moved in the sky.

The Doctor cricked his neck, tightening his shoulders and stretching out his back, "_Blimey_, that was a rough trip..."

She put her arm up, shielding her eyes, "God, it's like El _Azizia_ out here!"

"A lot hotter than El Azizia, I'd think." He looked around for a second, and then patted down his pockets, finally deciding on his right trench coat pocket and pulling out - of all things - a digital thermometer.

He held it up to the light and shook it, frowning, "Yeah, I thought so." He flashed it at her, as though he assumed she could understand the strange, alien patterns, "See? Eight hundred and sixteen degrees."

"Eight _hundred_? Oh, like an alien scale, right?"

"No, human."

"Fahrenheit."

"_Celsius_."

"But that, that's _impossible_." She looked around her, the suns suddenly very, very bright, "We should be dead. We should be burned."

"The TARDIS is protecting us." He spun around, looking at the sky, "This planet is a Type _Two_, as well. The atmosphere's not made for humans, humans were never supposed to _be_ here." He glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow, "That's not _air_ you're breathing. It's the TARDIS. It creates its own atmospheric shell."

"For how far?"

He shrugged, "I don't know... forty miles?"

"Forty miles... Not bad." She glanced up at him, "Let's hope whatever we're looking for is close, then!" she looked at him, expectantly, "Well, what we waiting for?"

He looked at her for a second, and then nodded, "_Right_! Okay, then! Well." He replaced the thermometer back in his pocket and pulled out the small metal box. He fiddled with a few dials, "This thing detects Heliotrion particles, particles the anthromorph leaves behind, kind of like... like a _scent_, a sort of... _noise_, like... like..."

"Background radiation!"

"_Exactly_!" he gave the box a small shake and a sharp tap and it started beeping. He grinned, "_There_ we go! Right, now, Heliotrion particles, _this _a-way! Come on, Rose - _Myra_."

* * *

The mood changed in a second, in the blink of an eye, and the Doctor shook his head, turning to her, urgently, "_**Myra**_. I said... I said... _Myra_, I said Myra."

Myra shook her head, a spark of something she didn't really recognise moving through her, looking down at the sand, "It's okay."

He put a hand on her shoulder, urging her eyes back up to his, his stance earnest, the beeping of the box silencing as he abandoned it, "I said _Myra_."

"It's _fine_, honestly, it's okay."

"No, I... I..." he trailed off, and then shrugged, almost helplessly, his hand sliding slowly off her, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I... I just..."

"I know. It's okay." There was silence for a second, and then she looked back up at him, "You must miss her."

He paused, his own eyes moving to the floor, "Yeah."

She took a step forwards, paused for a second, battling with consequences, and then shook her head, placing a hand on his arm, "It might not be the end, Doctor. You never know."

"She's trapped on a parallel world with no way of getting out." He replied, bitterly, "I think that's pretty final, don't you."

She hesitated.

_Cross __**too**__ many different realities - trust me - the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus._

She kept looking at him, and then shook her head. She couldn't tell him. One wrong word wouldn't change just _his_ world, but _hers_ as _well_. And, either way. An attempt to console him, to _comfort_ him, could go the exact opposite way. Rose's return was hardly the best of times for him, considering what he had had to go through _after_.

Myra shook her head again, and then took the box from his hand and flicked a switch, pushing a catch into place. The beeping started again, and she looked up at him, "Let's get going then, shall we?"

* * *


	9. Chapter 9: Buried

_Mbea's Trickster __**capitolo **__**nove:**__ 'Buried'. The anthromorph takes another stab at breaking the Doctor's trust, and the two find out that the heat is the least of their problems._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who :(_

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Buried**

"Are you alright?"

Myra didn't look at him. She had started shivering long before, and she started rubbing her hands briskly across her arms, "It's just... _freezing_."

She could sense the Doctor's eyes on her like heat. They both knew something was wrong. They both refused to speak of it. When she'd first mentioned it (God, is it getting _colder_? I _swear_ it's getting colder), he had immediately taken off his long trench coat and draped it over her shoulders, helping her into it. When he'd spotted her first shiver, he'd gone to take off his blazer, too. She'd refused, point blank. When the shivers had started to get so bad she couldn't see he managed to convince her otherwise.

He was now walking in a blue shirt and a loosened tie, while she was wearing four layers. And still shivering.

"I think we're getting closer." She said, quietly. She forced her hands deeper into the trench coat's seemingly bottomless pockets, clenching them into fists, fighting to keep the warmth in, "Yeah. Definitely closer."

"It's connected to you." He replied, moving his eyes between the scanner and the horizon so he didn't have to look at her, "Seems like we're heading towards somewhere it doesn't want us to be. The nearer we get... the more it pushes you away."

She managed to force out a small laugh, "How bad's it gunna get?"

He hesitated, and then just shook his head, grimly. She looked at him for a second, her heart thumping, and then looked back at the box in his hand, keeping her concentration on the flashing light.

One, two, three, four... She shook her head, threw her mind out for something else to concentrate on. She found herself thinking about French - odd, considering the situation, but perfectly adequate.

Right, French verb tables -

Aller: Je vais, tu vas, il/elle va, nous allons, vous allez, ils/elles vont.

Être: Je suis, tu es, il/elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont...

_Right, now, Heliotrion particles__, __**this**__ a-way! Come on, Rose!_

The shiver took hold of her again. Whatever she had said... it wasn't okay. It wasn't alright. She _wasn't_... _fine_. It was ridiculous. _All_ of this was ridiculous. Why should she care? Why made her care that he got her name wrong? It wasn't as if any of this was real _any_way. The real Myra Hull was lying on a hospital bed back in Telford, and soon she would wake up, and she'd tell the dream to Faye when she got back from work, and they'd both laugh about how weirdly her mind worked, about how it was remarkable she had survived the crash with as little injuries as she had. About how she was glad it was only a dream.

About how happy she was to get back to her normal, predictable, mundane life.

Myra paused for a moment, her eyes on the floor. Her heart was sinking, but she didn't quite know why. Of course she wanted to get home! Back to her mum, her dad, Faye, her job. _That_ was her world, not this... this... _madness_.

**Living in **_**denial**_**, Myra Hull?**

* * *

Myra started and stumbled back a few steps, the familiarity of the voice cutting right through her, "_Doctor_!"

He turned to her, immediately, his eyes searching out hers, "What is it."

"It's back! The anthromorph, it's back!"

Alarm sparked in his eyes and he moved towards her, swiftly, reaching out his hand to touch her cheek.

"Wait!"

He stopped, looking at her, cautiously, "Why, what's wrong."

"If we let it stay in contact maybe we can find out a little more about it." The Doctor just looked at her, and she gestured at the miles of sand around her, "I mean, _face_ it, Doctor, we're not gunna get through this by ourselves. Can you see anything? A settlement, a lost civilisation, _anything_?"

He looked at her, thinking. He knew she was right. He shook his head, slowly, "It's too dangerous."

"I can force him out if I have to."

"I don't want you to have to _do_ that."

She looked up at him, "Well that's okay then, Doctor. Because I _don't_ have to. I _choose_ to." She turned her head, blanking him out, her decision final, "Anthromorph. Long time, no see."

**Well, after that little trick with the nail we thought we'd give you a breather.**

"Oh, how _sweet_ of you..." she replied, scathingly.

**That's not our name, you know.**

Myra paused, thrown for a moment, "What d'you mean?"

_**Anthromorph**_**. That's not our name, that's not what we're called.**

"Then what _are_ you called."

**We don't **_**have**_** a name.**

"Well, everyone needs a _name_! What d'you call yourself by?"

**We **_**don't**_**.**

"How about _Ghandi_?" the Doctor suggested, contemptuously, still walking.

**Tell your Time Lord friend that his human politics are of no concern to **_**us**_**.**

"No. I'm not your goddamn messenger. What's your _race_, then?"

**Why?**

"Well, I'm _curious_, I wanna know. In your own tongue, what species are you?"

**Like you'd **_**understand**_** it...**

"Actually, the TARDIS is a pretty good telepathic interpreter. So I _can_. What _are_ you."

**We don't think so, Myra Hull.**

"But you'll talk to the Doctor? To the _Time_ Lord? The one who's actively trying to rub you off the face of the universe?" she shook her head, exasperated and frustrated, "You're a _bureaucrat_..."

**What would make you any **_**different, Myra Hull**_**, surely **_**you**_** are trying to rub us off the face of the universe **_**too**_**.**

"Yeah, but _I'd_ be less _effective_." She glanced at the Doctor and then shook her head, "I'm good, but I'm no Time Lord."

**Is that what you believe, Myra Hull?**

"You think otherwise? Prove it. Come on. You can answer _him_, you can answer _me_." There was silence, and she sighed, "Alright then, you do like things the hard way, don't you? What are you. Species designation, according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation, what is it." She raised an eyebrow, "Well? Was that _'Time Lord'_ enough for you?"

**Stolen words, Myra Hull. Just talk.**

"Yeah? Well, seems like no difference to me..."

**Well. We think alike.** It paused, allowing her a moment for the disgust she felt at this suggestion to manifest; **You are tracking us, of course? What have you found?**

She looked around her, "Sand. _Lots_ of sand."

**Good progress...**

"Well, we made it through the _Blockade_ alive, I think that's worth _something_."

**Yes, it is. Congratulations. One more impossible thing to add to the list.**

She smiled, grimly, "Yeah, don't you just _love_ days like that..."

**How are you enjoying the temperate?**

She shrugged, "Not much, actually. Feel like I'm standing in the Arctic Circle, I'm assuming that's got something to do with you?"

**Pretty much, yes. A little bit of irony on our part.**

"Irony?"

**Five hundred million years. Do you have any idea how long that is, Myra Hull, how... **_**indefinite**_**?**

"Actually, no, no I don't."

**Half a billion **_**years**_**. This planet is old, beyond your imagination.**

"Yeah you're talking to the wrong person, darling. I'm twenty-three and I think doing a ten hour double-shift takes a lifetime."

**Well, to take it up to measure... consider it as doing double shifts every day for the next... one** **hundred and six billion four hundred and fifty-eight million years. To the nearest million.**

"Wow."

**Exactly.**

"I'd be _dead_."

**Exactly.**

"That was _fast_, by the way. Nice arithmetic."

**We're good with numbers.**

"I _bet_ you are... Five hundred million years... is that how long you've been here?"

**I first left this planet long ago, but that was how long I lingered.**

"As an idea. I suppose it took some time to manifest yourself. And an awful lot of _power_, where did you get it from?"

"The Blockade." The Doctor answered, quietly, "All those years of destruction. All those ideas, everything that's been consumed. That's plenty power."

**Radiation sparks. From the Breach itself. They formed me. Baytron particles, from a scanner that the South Dwellers sent to probe.**

"Baytron radiation..." she shook her head, "Never heard of it."

The Doctor glanced at her, "Scanner?"

"Yeah."

He nodded, thoughtfully, and then fell silent again. He seemed content with letting his mind tick over the information he currently had, as if he was searching for a meaning they hadn't thought of before.

"So all the things the Blockade absorbed... they became... _you_?"

**Yes.**

"But they gave you _life_! You're... you're _alive_! How is that even _possible_?"

**Your Doctor had something to say on the subject, didn't he?**

"_What_?"

**You remember. Think about it. What's life?**

_What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. __**Nothing**__ to a nanogene._

She nodded, slowly, "Of course... So it made... _you_. Out of all the creatures, out of all things, it made... _you_."

**It had to make **_**some**_**thing.**

"_Did_ it? I don't know the lifespan of this planet, but I'm pretty sure five hundred million years isn't all of it, and I'm assuming there aren't any _more_ anthromorphs time-jumping about the universe? So why, all of a sudden, did it make _you_?"

**It wasn't **_**all of a sudden**_**, it was -**

"Yeah, yeah, five hundred million years, you've mentioned that. But _why_? Why did it make _life_?"

**We don't know.**

"What d'you _mean_, you _don't __**know**_?"

**Do **_**you**_** know the particulars of your creation, Myra Hull?**

She hesitated, and then shook her head, "Okay. But this... this... _Baytron radiation_. How did you _harness_ it? You must have had help, there's no _way_ you could do something like this on your own."

"Good question." The Doctor commented, neutrally.

**Well. We did have... **_**some**_** help.**

"Who _from_, this place is a _graveyard_!"

**Yes, it is. The Breach stopped all life forms from entering the North Dwellings. Nothing survived. Sand is the only thing you will ever find here.**

"Except _you_."

**And **_**you**_**.**

Myra stopped walking, her heart starting to flutter, predicting something very bad was coming, "What do you mean."

**Isn't it obvious, Myra Hull? You wondered why we chose you, why we picked **_**you**_**, out of all the people in time and space, everyone in creation, and we picked **_**you**_**. But this is the truth, Myra Hull: we **_**didn't**_**. **_**You**_** chose **_**us**_**.**

"_What_ do you _mean_?"

"Myra?" the Doctor asked, slowly, coming up beside her with a small frown on his face.

**I mean it was **_**you**_**, Myra Hull. **_**You**_** gave us life. **_**You**_** helped us harness the power.**

"That's ridiculous." She replied, her voice sharp, "You said that was half a billion _years_ ago."

**This is the year 52000. We are already almost fifty thousand years into your future, Myra Hull, now how did you manage to do **_**that**_**.**

She shook her head, slowly, "The TARDIS."

**Right in one. Your true self gives you an advantage over your Doctor. You know the TARDIS far better than any human. You know full well that you could pilot back, back over half a billion years.**

"No. I... I didn't."

"Myra?"

**And then all you had to do was sabotage the scanner, make sure it got in at the right time, and then release in the nanogenes.**

"No, I _couldn't_, I _wouldn't __**do**__ that_!"

**But you couldn't get to the **_**nanogenes**_** without alerting the scientists observing the probe, so you know what you did?** It paused for a second, its voice vicious, **You **_**disposed**_** of them.**

Myra put her hands to her head, pulling back her hair, her grip tight, "No. No, I... I wouldn't do that."

**Deny all you want, Myra Hull, it doesn't change the facts.**

She shook her head, frantically, "You're _lying_!" she couldn't breathe. Her heart was throbbing inside her chest and the cold had intensified again, uncontrollable shivers buckling through her body. The Doctor was talking again but his voice no longer mattered, it was just background noise to this thing, this _creature_, and it was taking over again.

**Taking over? Why would we **_**need**_** to? You are our **_**creator**_**.**

"I am _not a __**killer**_!"

At that word the Doctor's voice suddenly became more insistent: "Myra, _Myra_? Myra, can you hear me, _look_ at me! _Look_ at me, Myra."

She managed to force his eyes onto his, and immediately sought to convince him: "I'm not. I'm _not_, I didn't do it, I _can't_ have!"

**You **_**are**_** a killer, and you **_**are**_** on my side. Or, at least, you **_**will**_** be.**

"Myra, give me your hand."

Automatically, she put her hand out in front of her.

**Why else do you think I would let you get so **_**close**_**?**

"Wait, _what_?"

He took her hand, his grip tight, and then put his other hand on her cheek.

* * *

Immediately, the anthromorph's hold disappeared, and Myra was left alone and shivering.

"_Wait_!" she called, desperately. There was no reply, and she shook her head, frustrated, "He was about to say something, about to -"

"Myra, look at me. _Look_ at me!"

She immediately silenced, stunned at his tone, and locked onto his eyes.

The Doctor waited until he was sure he had her absolute attention, and then continued in a calmer, but none the less _final_ tone: "You do not listen to a word that thing says. You hear me."

"But -"

"It's a _Trickster_, Myra! This is what it _does_! It forces itself into your head and plays on your deepest fears, your darkest desires. _Don't __**let**__ it_." He paused for a second, and then let his hand slip on her cheek, "This is what the Trickster's Brigade is good at, Myra. You know you asked me whether the members were volunteers? Most of them weren't. They were _tricked_ into it. With a life debt. So, _please_, if you _trust_ me, _listen_ to me. Don't let them do the same to you."

She paused for a moment, looking at him, and then nodded, slowly, "Alright. Okay, I'll... I'll try."

He nodded, slowly, "Good. Now. What did it say."

She looked up at him, thinking. Then she shook her head, "Nothing important."

He smiled, "Perfect."

"Except..."

The smile faded, "_Myra_..."

"Just _listen_, though! He asked me... why else do you think I would let you get so close." She looked around them, quickly, seeing only sand, "We're _there_, Doctor. We're _here_. We're so _close_. So where _is_ he?"

"Maybe he was lying, Myra."

"No. No, he's around here somewhere." She started walking, determinedly, pulling the coat more tightly around her shoulders when the cold hit her again, and then turning back when she no longer felt someone's presence by her side, "Doctor?"

He didn't look at her. His attention was on the box in his hand, his own golden retriever, and he was frowning, puzzled, "Wait a sec..." he paused, and then hit the box several times against the palm of his hand, "_That_ can't be right..."

"What." She asked, instantly, walking towards him, "What's wrong."

He played with a few dials and then held the scanner up to his ear and shook it. Apparently that told him something, because he brought it back down, still frowning, "No, nothing's wrong with it, it's fine. So... what's going on?"

"What d'you mean? What's it say?"

He looked around him, narrowing his eyes against the blaze of the suns, "But it _can't_ be."

"_Doctor_!"

He looked at her, raising his eyebrows, "Yes?"

"What does it say."

"It says... we're here. The anthromorph should be... _right __**here**_."

"_What_? Are you _sure_?"

He showed her the dial, again assuming she could read it, "Yep. The trail stops here, stops dead. No more Heliotrion particles." He looked off into the distance again, covering his eyes with a hand, "It _must_ be around here somewhere..."

Myra paused for a moment, thinking. And then it hit her. She looked down at the ground, slowly. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Then she looked back up at him, "Doctor."

He turned to her, distractedly, "What?"

She glanced back down, meaningfully. He followed her gaze, for a moment completely nonplussed. Then realisation spread over him, and he met her eyes, "_Oh_, of _course_..."

He backed away a little bit, he too moving his weight on his feet. Then he suddenly fell to his knees, and then lay down fully on the sand. She raised her eyebrows, but didn't comment. He put his cheek flat on the ground, tongue tracing one of his top teeth, waiting. He pulled himself up a bit and then pushed the scanner down into the sand, and waited again. Myra saw nothing different, but the Doctor seemed to have found what he was looking for, and nodded, satisfied.

He glanced up at her, "Myra, come down here."

She hesitated, and then shook her head and went over to crouch down next to him. He took a handful of sand and let it drain slowly out, then put his hand down flat, pushing down, "Feel that?"

She looked at him, "Feel _what_?"

"Like this _thrum_, this sort of _shiver_, this _quake_." She just looked at him, and he shook his head, almost impatiently, "Put your hand here, go on."

She hesitated, and then shrugged, and pushed her hand down into the sand.

"_God_!" she exclaimed, snapping her hand back towards her. It was like touching _ice_. "That's _freezing_!"

She rubbed her hands together and blew on the one that had touched the ground, quickly, trying to get some heat back into it.

"It's underneath us." He said, grimly. He got back up to his knees and looked around, brushing sand off his shirt, subconsciously, "But how do we get _down_ there?"

Myra got to her feet, also looking around. Then she spotted something not that far away, and started towards it, "There!"

She reached it, a short, black pole stuck in the sand, and walked around it, confused, "What the hell is _that_?" she grabbed hold of it and tugged. It didn't come loose. So it was _some_thing. But _what_?

The Doctor caught up with her, still brushing himself down, "Let's have a look at you." It didn't take her a second to know he was talking to the pole. He stopped in front of it, and then, reflexively, reached for a breast pocket that wasn't there.

"Looking for these?" Myra asked, holding out his brown glasses.

He shot her a smile and took them, pushing them on and frowning at the object in front of them, "Oh, _that's_ different..." he knelt down in front of it, his hands moving over it very gently. Myra knelt down beside him. The metal was covered in intricate designs she hadn't noticed before, long, squiggly lines that looked like a sort of space-age African tapestry.

She reached out and ran a finger down one, feeling the grooves, "What do they mean?"

He shrugged, not looking at her, frowning down at the metalwork, "I don't know. I've never seen anything _like_ it."

"There probably _isn't_ anything like it. If this anthromorph really is the only living thing in this place then all this stuff is pretty much unique."

"S'pose so..." he frowned, getting down close to it, and then shook his head, holding out a hand, "Screwdriver."

She raised an eyebrow at his tone, but didn't comment on it, instead going through his pockets, "Here."

He took it without even glancing at her and flicked a switch. The tube extended slightly and he ran the blue light over the metal, tracing one of the carvings, "Now, there's definitely... just need to find..." a small chirrup sounded through the air, and he grabbed hold of the pole, "_Ha_! I _knew_ it!" he shot her a smile, "Control board."

The whistling grew more intensive until a light shone up on the pole, quickly changing into a big, 3D rectangle shaped like a monitor.

"Holographic." He explained, waving a hand through the screen, casually, and then getting to his feet. He looked at the monitor more closely, and then his hands found out three different buttons and he started tapping out a series of different patterns, "It's not letting me through... Hang on, let's try..."

He tapped some more and then a silhouette of a hand appeared on the screen. The Doctor looked at it, thinking.

"Doctor?" she asked, hesitantly, "What's that?"

"Isomorphic controls."

She shook her head and let out a breath, "Aw, that's gunna take a while..."

"Yeah..." he hovered his hand over the black silhouette and a chirrup went through the speakers that easily showed a negative.

"How does it have isomorphic controls? How does a _hologram_ take _finger_prints."

"Well, if it can read touch, why _shouldn't_ it read fingerprints?"

She paused, and then shrugged, "I suppose so..."

"Computerised reading. _Far_ more accurate than ink."

He pressed his sonic screwdriver to the pad, switching between fingers, going down to the palm and then back, "Come on, come _on_..."

Myra stood perfectly still, watching him. An idea had occurred in her mind some time ago. A way of getting past the security systems. But, no. It wouldn't work. And, if it _did_...

She shook her head, "Why is it hiding underground? I mean, it's got all this space, the entire Sphere to itself, why is it hiding?"

"It's not. This is its nest. To harness the Baytron particles you'd need one hell of a lot of power, and that's what he's got. You think it's hot _here_, think how it is down by the crust, down in the core. All that heat and all that pressure crushed the Baytron particles together. To make _him_."

"What, like... like a _diamond_?"

He smiled, humourlessly, "If an anthromorph can truly be likened to a precious stone, then yes." He tightened his grip on the screwdriver and pushed it further into the hologram, frowning, frustrated, "Come on, what's the _matter_ with you?"

"Doctor."

He shook his head, "Sorry, Myra, not right now."

She hesitated. She felt bad about disturbing him, she knew this new impossible feat needed his entire concentration, but this was worth it. She shook her head and took a small, tentative step towards him, "Doctor. Get out of the way."

He glanced at her, "What?"

"Let me try something." He stared at her, and she nodded and put her hand on his shoulder, gently manoeuvring him out of the way, "Here. Let me just..." she held out her hand, hesitated, and then lowered it onto the access panel.

* * *

There was a whirr of metal and the hologram closed up on itself, the pole sinking back into the ground. There was a second's silence and then the ground started to shake. Myra took a few quick steps back and watched with suppressed amazement as the sand parted, leaving a black, circular seal.

She looked at it for a moment, stunned. It was big, about six foot across, and bore the same strange markings as the computer.

The Doctor walked up beside her, eyes on the seal, "Now. How did you manage _that_."

She paused, still looking at it, and then managed a small smile, glancing at him, "Somebody down there likes me." She moved her eyes back to the metal circle, "Gravity platform, right?"

"Right." But that wasn't the end of it. He let his eyes move over her, looking her up and down. He didn't need to ask.

Myra hesitated, and then shook her head, "The anthromorph... he asked me... why else do you think I would let you get so close. He said... because... I was on its side. Because I was his creator." She paused for a second, battling with her breaking voice, tears sparking in her eyes, "He said I was a -"

"Myra." The Doctor said, warningly, "What did I tell you."

"Just... just promise me one thing. Yes?"

He paused, looking at her, "What."

"If I... if anything... _happens_... promise you'll stop me."

"Like _what_?"

"_Promise_ me, Doctor."

He looked at her for some time. Then he nodded, slowly, managing to mouth "Yeah." He cleared his throat, and then nodded again, "Okay." He caught her eyes, and then gestured with a jerk of his head at the platform, "Let's get going then. Shall we."

* * *


	10. Chapter 10: Impossible Man

_Mbea's Trickster __**k**__**apitel zehn**__**:**__ 'Impossible Man'. The new couple negotiate their way around the anthromorph's den, and Myra reveals her deepest fear._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Impossible Man**

The gravity platform took them down God knows how far, miles and miles. They travelled in silence, the sort of awkward silence you get in a lift, and Myra kept her eyes on the never-ending sand walls.

"Will the TARDIS be able to protect us down here." She asked, quietly.

The Doctor shrugged, casually, "Dunno. Maybe. Only one way to find out."

She paused, took a deep breath, and then shook her head, "Still. No going back now." He winced, and she turned on him, fiercely, "And don't you say a word!"

He paused, and then nodded, slowly, "Okay." She shook her head, and he raised an eyebrow, "Cheer up. Come on, _think_ about it! We're the first people to go down here in all of time!" he nudged her with his shoulder, shooting her a smooth smile, "_Gotta_ be worth it, don't you think?"

She shook her head, slowly, "_God_, I hate you..."

He grinned, "Oh, I know."

"If I didn't know you better I'd think you _wanted_ to die."

"Oh, _never_." He smiled again, and she found herself smiling too, "I just wanna _live_!"

The platform stopped with a shudder. Myra looked around her. To their right was what looked like the beginning of a cave, a tunnel of rock. She moved her head, trying to see the end of it, tell how long it was, but it turned round a corner and she couldn't see.

She looked back at him, raising an eyebrow, "End of the line?"

His smile grew, "End of the line! Now. Let's see what's out there!" He moved past her and took the first step into the caves.

Myra watched his back, cautiously. She knew that smile. It was the same smile he _always_ wore, the inexplicable, animated enthusiasm he seemed to thrive in. It was the same smile he wore when an alien spaceship crashed into Big Ben. It was the same smile he wore when he came face-to-face with a werewolf. It was the same smile he wore when he landed at the end of the universe.

Myra's heart was fluttering again. What had she got herself into _this_ time? This was a man who'd fought and killed _hundreds_ for _years_, who still hid that part of him inside. Who, when he wasn't holding it back, still had sparks of it come out.

_That place was flooding and burning and they were __**dying**__ and you were stood there like... I don't know. A __**stranger**__._

That smile... that terribly dangerous smile... it was the same smile he wore when Martha Jones first discovered he had two hearts. This was a man who could show you something impossible and then smile, and then _wink_ at you, and of _course_ you'd have to play along, because what happened if you _didn't_?

"Myra?"

She hesitated, one foot on the sand, one on the platform. What happened if you didn't. What happened if you let yourself believe something impossible.

"_Myra_?" the Doctor appeared back around the corner, looking at her, expectantly, "You coming?"

She looked at him, then nodded, "Yeah." She took the step, felt her foot hit sand. She watched it for a second, and then shook her head, and followed him, because there was nothing else she could do.

* * *

"_Blimey_, bit hot down here!"

"You're telling _me_..." Myra pulled off the coat and the jacket, passing them back to him, "Yeah, you can have these back now."

"Feeling better?"

"Much. Still, out of the frying pan..."

"...and into the fire." The Doctor completed, slowly, nodding at a gap in the wall in front of him. Frowning, she caught up with him and looked in. Her breath left her. It was a small cavern, about forty feet long, and the place looked like something straight out of hell. The floor was a river of flowing lava, turning the whole room a violent blood-red.

She felt the heat like a physical force on her face, and she took a few steps back, "Just a suggestion... but I think we should find another route."

He nodded, thoughtfully, "Yeah, sounds good to _me_." He turned and headed off down another path, "Let's try this way."

She caught up with him, "Why is this place so... _huge_?" he glanced at her, expectantly, and she shook her head, "I was expecting... well, a _nest_. Like... a tiny little hideaway. This place is _massive_!"

"Well, as your friend was so keen to remind you, it has been over half a billion years. Could _you_ live in a box for over half a billion years?"

"No, but... how has he _done_ this?"

"The reason the anthromorph deletes people from time is so he can consume the chaos the universe gets into without their existence. Like... get rid of Churchill and the Nazis invade England, whole future changes. Tricksters usually prefer people of some historical importance - Nathan Stubblefield invented mobile phones, Hans Janssen invented the microscope, Da Vinci invented bridges."

Myra shook her head, sceptically, "No he didn't!"

"Well. He invented _good_ bridges. But, either way, the anthromorph _needs_ this chaos to have form. He's a shape-shifter, but an _internal_ shape-shifter."

"Like Plasmavores?"

"Yes, but they don't assimilate blood. It's sort of like... an _echo_. It can take on shapes of other people, other things, but it can never get them quite right. They look... drawn out. Sort of like shadows." He shook his head, seeing she didn't understand, fighting to find a way to explain it to her, "You know when look at something and you just _know_ it's... not _quite right_. The anthromorph takes on other forms, but it can't sustain them. While in that form it can't touch, because _it hasn't __**got**__ touch._ It hasn't got _any_thing, it's just a shadow. It gives off... _nothing_."

"Like a Void ship?"

"Yeah, kinda. But after feeding, the anthromorph becomes very very real." He looked around him, his eyes tracing the walls, the high ceiling, "I reckon it made this place during one of those moments, a _hundred_ of those moments, a _**thousand**_."

"But _why_?"

He looked at her, surprised, "Because it's his _home_." He looked around again, "A bit of DIY home building... for over half a _billion years_..."

"Half a billion years roasting in the heart of a planet, all alone..." she paused for a moment, and then shook her head, slowly, "Enough to turn _any_one insane."

He looked at her, frowning, "Why d'you say that?"

She paused, looking at him, and then shook her head again, "You said the anthromorph joined the Brigade because that's what it thought it _was_. Why would it think it was a Trickster? It burned here for millions of years with no outside contact, and no touch. Like the Daleks, like the Sisters' _flesh_, _no_ _touch_. Not _ever_."

"Are you..." the Doctor paused, looking at her with a strange, lopsided smile, "Are you... _sympathising_... with the anthromorph?"

"_No_, I just... I..." Myra paused, and then sighed and shook her head, "Yeah. Yes. I think I am."

"With something that's wants _kill_ you?"

"Yeah."

He looked at her for a second, and then the half-smile turned genuine, "How _human_."

"What, pure stupidity?"

"I didn't say that."

She shook her head and turned a corner, abruptly picking up the pace, "Shut up. Come on."

"D'you not _like_ being called human?"

"No, it's just the way _you_ say it you make it sound like an _insult_. Like, hey, there she is, acting all _human_..."

"I do not sound like that."

"Oh, you so do."

"I _don't_!"

"Oh, so you've _never_ said something bad about someone and then said 'how _human_'. And you've _certainly_ never said 'trust a _human_ to mess things up', and you've _**definitely**_ never said 'funny little human brains, how do you get around in those things'!"

He looked at her for a moment, speechless, and then shook his head, "I... You... You're... I've _never_ said trust a human to mess things up."

"Yeah, well, not _yet_, give yourself some time." She shook her head and sighed, wearily, "Just... please don't address me by my species. I don't go around calling you _Time_ Lord, _do_ I."

The Doctor looked at her for a second, incredulously, and then shook his head, "Alright. _Noted_. Now what d'you _mean_, '_not __**yet**__'_?"

She looked up at him, thinking quickly.

* * *

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the caves. Myra winced and covered her ears at the sustained volume, breathing through her teeth. Then it faded and she brought her hands down, hesitantly, "What the hell was _that_?"

The Doctor looked around them, urgently, "I don't know." He looked around again, running his hand down the wall, "Can't tell which direction, it's too scattered... Nowhere near, though."

"Whoa, wait, that sounded pretty close to _me_."

"Echoes." He paused, and then shook his head, turning to her, "This place is just one long series of tunnels. An echo can carry down miles and _miles_. We're safe for now. Come on."

"Safe?" she repeated, giving a small, weak laugh, "Is this some sort of new version of the word _safe_ that I'm not aware of?"

He gave her a grin, "TARDIS safe."

She shook her head, "_Time Lord_ safe."

"Yep! I _love_ it!" he stopped as they came to a junction, and he glanced down each of them in turn. Then he looked back at her, "Left or right?"

She frowned, "What?"

"Left or right." he repeated, glancing down the rocky corridors, perfectly calmly, "Simple decision."

"Why are you asking _me_?"

He smiled and gave her a playful chuck on the arm, leaning down to her level, "You look like you've got good instincts. Left or right."

Myra paused for a second, looking at each path in turn. Then she nodded, "Right."

He nodded, thoughtfully, and started walking again, "Why right?"

She looked around her, "It looked less dark. I don't like the dark."

He glanced at her, a small smile playing around his lips, "Vashta Nerada?"

She smiled back, "No, no, I'm not _afraid_ of the dark."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm afraid of things that _hide_ in the dark."

"Like what?"

She cocked her head in a sort of half-shrug, "Well... ninjas."

"_Ninjas_?"

"Oh yes!"

The Doctor threw back his head and laughed, and, after a second, Myra joined him. She couldn't stop, it was all her emotions letting go, all the fear, anger, confusion... just letting itself out. She was laughing, and was _still_ laughing when the ground left their feet.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11: Things that Hide in the Dark

_Mbea's Trickster __**hoofdstuk elf**__**:**__ 'Things that Hide in the Dark'. The Doctor gets compared to a leading Tabloid newspaper and a trap turns into an opportunity for a gym lesson._

_Disclaimer - I still don't own Doctor Who. You'd think after all the writing I do I'd at __**least**__ get a share ;)_

* * *

**Chapter 11 - Things that Hide in the Dark**

Myra let out a low groan and fought to clear her head. Sharp, stabbing pain moved through the whole of her left side, and she felt like her brain was pushing against her skull.

"Myra?" a voice asked, far too loud in her muddled mind.

She grimaced, and then pushed her hands out, managing to get a slight amount of space between her body and the floor.

"Myra?" the voice was gentler this time, and she forced her eyes to open. The Doctor was kneeling in front of her, hand on her shoulder, his eyes searching out hers, "Can you hear me."

"Ouch," she replied, raising a shaking hand to her head, "That... that... _Ouch_."

"Okay, you alright, how you feeling?"

She shook her head, incredulously, feeling a sharp bolt of pain slam through her temples. Only the Doctor could be so brilliant and yet slow enough to ask that question, "What happened."

"Hole." He looked up, probably glancing at the hole, "Hole in the floor. We must've fallen about... twenty feet? At _least_." He turned his attention back to her, concernedly, "Can you stand?"

She paused for a moment. His question had just gone straight over her head, "What?"

"Can you stand?" he repeated, slower, "How bad is it?"

She shook her head, painfully, "No idea." She threw out her hand, grabbing at the wall for a hold. Instantly he took hold of her arm, helping her gently to her feet.

"Whoa." She said, watching the rocky walls revolve around her. She closed her eyes and forcefully slowed her breathing. Her head was spinning uncontrollably.

"You alright?" she heard him ask.

She shook her head, "No." she opened her eyes again, and shook her head, "But I'll live." Her eyes moved over him, critically, flicking over a line of blood trickling down his cheek, "How about you."

He glanced at her, surprised, as if this was the last question he was expecting, "What, _me_? I'm _always_ alright." Then he was back to her, his hands on either side of her face, looking into her eyes, "No concussion..." his eyes moved up to her head, frowned, "You're bleeding."

"So are you." She replied, nodding at him.

He wiped the line of blood off his face, impatiently, "Flesh wound. How are you feeling."

"I'm _fine_, don't get all _doctory_ on me."

He gave a small, faint smile, but the concern was still evident, "Anything broken?"

She paused, and then looked down at herself. She ran a hand down her left arm, grimacing, "Cuts and grazes." She felt out the back of her head, tentatively, "Bit of a banged head." Then she turned to him and shook her head, "Slight loss of dignity. Apart from that, I'm fine." She looked around her, "Now where the hell are we."

The Doctor paused, and then echoed her movements, walking around the cave they'd landed in, "I don't know... But the anthromorph put that hole there for a reason. It wants us down here."

Myra looked around her, slowly. The room was darker down here - seemed her pick of the path hadn't been the right choice after _all_. The whole place was cast in shadow, and all she could really make out were the rocky walls surrounding them, a blackened path beneath her feet, and the Doctor standing in front of her.

"It's cooler down here." She said, frowning, moving over to join him.

He nodded, thoughtfully, "Yes, it is." His eyes moved over the walls in front of them, almost warily, "We better keep moving."

"Why."

He looked at her, deadly serious, "Things that hide in the dark."

"What kind of things."

He shook his head, slowly, "Tetraps. Crnlar. Krillitanes. Elemental Shades. Ackeso. Jek'jek ir. Carrion Lions. Albelonn."

"Okay, okay, I _get_ it."

He glanced at her, "Vashta Nerada."

"I _**get**_ it!" She repeated, firmly, "_God_, you're worse than The Daily Mail!"

He smiled slightly. Then he nodded ahead of them, "This way."

She followed him, automatically, "Why?"

"Watch your step. It's lighter. Look."

She looked. A faint glow of light was coming from ahead of them, faint but there, like a doorway. She picked her step carefully, the ground beneath them far from flat and stable, feeling her footing out before taking it.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

"When we... _find_ the anthromorph... what are you going to do?"

He looked at her for a second, and then looked away, "Don't worry about it."

"Why?"

"I said don't _worry_ about it."

"_Doctor_." She repeated, insistently. He paused, and then looked at her again. She kept his eyes, "I'm not going any further until you tell me what's going on."

He hesitated, and then shook his head, "Well, it's not as if you'll _understand_ it!"

She raised an eyebrow, fighting down indignation and just a spark of anger, "You'd be surprised." She paused, letting him think about this, and then nodded, "So tell me."

He paused again, and then shook his head, giving in, "Right. So. Basically, what I was going to do was -"

Myra snapped her head to the right, "Did you hear that?"

The Doctor sighed, wearily, "You ask a question, don't wait for an answer..."

"Yeah, but did you hear it, though?"

He stopped for a moment, listening, and then shook his head, "Can't hear a thing."

"Stop, _listen_! _There_, there it is again! Did you hear that?"

He looked at her, "Yes. Yes I did..."

"What _is_ it?"

"What does it sound like."

"Like... like _singing_. _Singing_ in my _head_." She glanced around her, "Where's it coming from?"

"I don't think it's coming from _any_where."

She looked at him, quickly, "Telepathy?"

"Yeah. Yes, I think so."

"Like the Ood?"

"Yeah."

"But this..." she shook her head, unable to find the words, "It _feels __**real**_."

She started on again, going towards the light.

"Myra?"

"It's coming from over here." She kept walking, following the sound. The path led into a brighter room, _much_ brighter, with move caves and caverns. She paused, listening for a moment, and then carried on down the path.

"Myra, come back, come back here."

"It's _beautiful_."

"_Listen_ to me."

"So beautiful..."

"Myra, _WAIT_!"

* * *

Myra shuddered to a stop, snapping herself out of it, blinking. She turned to him, confused.

The Doctor nodded down to her feet, grimly, "Look down."

She frowned, and then glanced down. Her breath left her. She was standing right on the edge of a drop of about ten feet, a drop into a deep, lava-coated floor. She took a few quick steps back, the Doctor's arm around her back doing nothing to stop her. The heat burned once again on her face.

She forcefully calmed herself down, and then looked back up at him again, shaking her head, incredulously, "What the..."

"Farons." He replied, quietly, "Flame creatures. Usually live on suns or really, really hot planets." He looked down, thoughtfully, "But lava does them just fine. They can live inside a volcano quite easily." He pointed, "Look. There they are."

She took a hesitant step forwards and peered down, very careful around the edge. She narrowed her eyes against the brightness of the flames, and then she saw them. Shifting in the lava, like a small pattern, and then every now and then a tail would come up, disappearing again with a thick-sounding splash.

She shook her head, slowly, "And... the... the _singing_?"

"That was them."

She paused, and then looked back up at him, "But they were drawing me in!"

He shook his head, immediately, "No no no, they didn't _mean_ to. That's just what they do. They _sing_. Humans find the song captivating, like insects to light."

"And you didn't _tell_ me?"

He looked her up and down, indignantly, "I tried to _stop_ you, didn't I?"

"_God_..." she muttered, shaking her head. Then she looked up, her eyes moving over the lava-bottomed floor, "Look, over there. There's a way across, up against the wall, see it?"

He frowned, searching it out, "Yeah, I see it."

"Ooh, pretty thin, though, you think we can walk it?"

He shrugged, "Well, only one way to find _out_."

She shook her head, "Doctor, seriously, that thing's like a foot across with nothing to hold onto except the _wall_! Can you really balance on that?"

He shook his head, looking at his feet as he moved closer to the left wall, "Hey, I did PE, same as everyone else, why _shouldn't_ I."

She shook her head again, giving a small, playful smile, "Well now _there's_ something I'd pay to see. Out of everything I've seen I don't think anything would compare to watching the _Doctor_ do a double somersault..."

He looked back at her, indignantly, "Oi. Stop it."

She smiled again. Then she looked down. The path was barely a ridge in the wall, only wide enough for single file, and near a very dangerous edge. The Doctor moved carefully along the edge of the drop until he could just about reach the path. He hopped across, balancing dangerously on one foot until he managed to get the other down in front of it.

He glanced down and grimaced, "Ooh, _that's_ not good..."

Myra shook her head, "Don't look down."

"Thanks for that, I wouldn't have thought of that otherwise..."

"Oi, don't get all sarky with me, just... be careful."

He took a few steps, leaning heavily against the wall, taking small, careful steps. Myra waited until he'd gone about six feet and then moved up to the side, ready to hop across herself.

"Whoa, wait, where you going?"

"I'm coming _with_ you!" she replied, instantly, "No way in hell I'm staying _here_!"

He managed to turn his body round to her without moving his feet, "Look, Myra, I can see the end of the path from here, it's barely more than a _room_, I'm just going to check it out."

"Oh no, I'm not staying here."

"Come on, I won't be long." He shook his head as she just looked at him, defiantly, "Honestly. I'll be back around that corner before you know it!"

She hesitated, looking at him, and then nodded, slowly, "Alright. But you be careful!"

He gave her a small, casual salute, one finger to his forehead, "Yes, ma'am."

"Oh, shut up, just _go_."

He smiled, and then he seemed to realise something and turned back, "Don't you go wandering off, now. I _mean_ it."

"What, are you crazy?" she asked, almost shakily, "Like hell I'm going _any_where, I'm staying right here 'til the second you get back."

"Well. _That's_ a first."

"Just get going." She hesitated, watching him turn away, and then made a move towards him again, "And, Doctor?"

He turned again, "Oh, what _now_?"

She paused, looking at him, and then shook her head, "Make sure you come back."

* * *


	12. Chapter 12: The Shape Shifter

_Mbea's Trickster __**capitolul **__**doisprezece**__**:**__ 'The Shape-Shifter'. The Doctor takes up spelunking and Myra discovers something she wishes she hadn't._

_Disclaimer - Sadly, I don't own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 12 - The Shape-Shifter**

The Doctor turned the corner. He looked around him, carefully. It was dark, _very_ dark, but he could just about make out some rough shadows. The room was just like the others, sandy floor, rocky walls.

He ran a hand down the rock again. Heat emanated from deep inside, like some sort of molten core. But if they were _that_ deep not even the _TARDIS_ would be able to protect them - they would have been crushed by the pressure in an instant. The Earth's radius was a quite mediocre 7,926 miles, with a distance from the crust to the core of 4,038. But this was no Earth. This planet was _bigger_, _much_ bigger.

He let his hand slide off the wall and kept walking. There was no way they'd travelled over 10 miles on that gravity platform, that would be impossible. So they weren't at the core. So something that wasn't molten lava was creating a _ridiculous_ amount of heat down here. But _what_?

Something moved behind him and he span around, automatically pulling his screwdriver from his pocket. He pointed it ahead of him, waiting. Silence. He paused, cautiously, and then took a small step forwards.

"Myra?" He called, softly.

No response. He flicked a lever on his sonic, keeping his eyes on the shadow, and let the light fall on the corner. Nothing.

He hesitated, thinking quickly. A Vashta shadow wouldn't have been perturbed by a sonic screwdriver, would have stripped his flesh in the blink of an eye. He scanned the nearby shadows, just in case. Nope, benign. As far as a shadow could be called _benign_...

He could feel his hearts pumping, pushing blood faster around his body as he frowned at the empty corner. Then he shook his head and turned, carrying on down the passageway, screwdriver still in hand.

The path didn't carry on for long; he followed it for only a few minutes before he came to another sharp drop into another lava-filled pit. The Doctor looked down, carefully, and then looked to either side, searching for a ledge he could get to. There was nothing. He paused, for a second watching the Farons dance in the fire, singing their hushed melody, almost transfixed. Then he shook his head and turned back, almost dissatisfied at the lack of anything useful, and started making his way back along the path.

"_Doctor_?"

* * *

The Doctor turned rapidly to the shout, "Myra?" There was nothing, and he started moving quickly forwards, "Myra, is that you?"

She didn't reply, and he shook his head, frustrated, "_Myra Hull_! If you don't answer me, I'm... I'm... I'm gunna be really ticked off."

"Doctor?"

He span on his heel, back to the way he had come, his voice suddenly perfectly serious: "Who's there."

"_Doctor_..."

"Who _is_ that."

"_Doctor_!"

"_Who_ _is_ _that_?"

Silence. He hesitated, his grip tightening on his sonic, ears tuned to even the slightest movement. Nothing.

He paused for a second, and then backed away a few steps, stumbling slightly on the uneven floor. Absolute silence. He turned, hesitated, and then slowly started walking away, back towards the path.

"_**Doctor**_!"

The Doctor spun back, and a bright light shone into his eyes, so bright he pulled backwards, turning his head, covering his eyes with an arm. He paused for a moment, gathering his breath, and then pulled his arm away. Sparks of light and colour flashed up in his vision, and he grimaced, blinking until they disappeared, "Myra?"

"_Doctor_?"

"_Myra_!"

He ran towards her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Myra, it's you!"

"Who the hell did you _think_ it was, _Elvis_?" she replied, and, though her hands were pressed tightly over her eyes and her voice sounded somewhat pained, her words were still remarkably sharp.

"What are you _doing_ here?"

"I followed you. I heard... never mind what I heard. I guess... I wanted to check up on you. You've been gone for _ages_!"

He titled his head, trying to see her properly, "You alright?"

She shook her head, her hands still covering her face, firmly, "My head... My _eyes_... _**God**_!"

He put his hands on hers, "Let me see."

She tightened her hold, "No." She winced, drawing in a breath through gritted teeth, "_God_, I... I feel like they're _bleeding_."

He frowned, "It was just a light, it wasn't that bad, _can't_ have been! Come on, let me have a look."

"My _head_..."

He tried again, softening his voice: "Myra. Let me take a look at you. I can help."

"No. _Please_, Doctor, don't make me."

"Don't make you what?"

"Look at you."

He moved his head back, slightly, looking at her, the words sending alarm bells through his head, "What d'you mean."

"_Don't make me look at you_!"

He took a slow step back, "Hold on. Hold on, wait a minute. I've heard that before." He paused, looking her up and down, _really_ looking at her, calculating every inch, "Myra..."

"Don't make me look at you."

"Myra, are you still in there? Can you hear me?"

She shook her head, doubling a little, breathing heavily, "Doctor, it's me. I'm still here." She let out a low, pained whimper, and something shot through his soul, "Oh, God... Doctor, what's happening to me."

The Doctor moved back towards her, instantly, "Myra, listen to me. I am going to get you out of here, you hear me? Myra?"

He put his hand out, hesitated, and then put it on her cheek. She instantly warmed to his touch, pushing her face against his palm. Her face was wet with tears.

He paused, something triggering inside him, something he didn't want to feel, and then he forced it back down, ferociously, and turned to her, "Myra? You're going to be fine. Hear me?"

"Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

"What I said... about hating you..."

He smiled, slightly uncomfortable, "Oh... oh, don't worry about _that_, I, I get it all the time!"

"Just... I didn't mean it."

"I know, don't... don't worry about it."

"I don't hate you."

Before he knew what was happening, she'd grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulled him forwards and was kissing him. She pushed him backwards into the wall, cornering him, hands moving to the back of his head, pulling him closer. He managed to break away for a breath and then she pulled him straight back down again, so close, having to stretch to reach, her other hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, he pushed her off, roughly, forcing her away from him. The Doctor paused, looking at her, then, slowly, wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked at his hand for a second and then looked back up at her, coldly, "Well, I knew you wanted my _taste_ but I didn't think you'd stoop _that_ far." Myra didn't move, her hands back on her face, covering her eyes. He raised an eyebrow, looking her up and down, distastefully, "Well? Go on, then. Show yourself."

For a moment, she didn't move. Then she slid her hands down from her face and looked at him. Her eyes glowed black and red, a mist spreading across her face. The Doctor tilted his head back slightly, unsurprised.

The thing smiled, tilting its head slightly to one side, "Hello, Time Lord."

He looked at her, emotionless, "Hello, anthromorph."

The girl smiled a smile too vicious for her face, "How did you know?"

He shook his head, sceptically, "_Look_ at yourself. Not even just your _eyes_, everything _about_ you _screams_ 'shifter'. You're too short, your hair's too dark and Myra doesn't _wear_ nail varnish. You _taste_ like _battery_ acid. But, mostly..." he looked her up and down, appraisingly, "Myra's dress was violet. That's more... _mauve_."

She raised an eyebrow, still smiling, "And you wonder why people say you're into musical theatre?"

He looked her up and down, a slow anger beginning to build inside of him, "Is that Myra? Is that her, have you taken her form?" he held out his hand, hesitantly, and touched her shoulder, quickly, "Or is it another echo."

"An echo. I haven't taken her form yet. I thought I'd give you a chance to reconsider."

"No chances. Where is she. _Myra_, where _is_ she."

"Safe. For now."

"Stop it, _answer_ me!"

"I just did, Time Lord." The girl paused, tilting her head slightly to one side and smiling an unpleasant smile, "Did you ever wonder why we picked her? Out of all the people in time and space, everyone in creation, why _her_?"

"You said it didn't _matter_. You said it was random."

"Oh, but it wasn't."

He paused, looking at her, curiosity battling with suspicion, "You know where she's from?"

"Oh yes."

He paused again, thinking very quickly, then moved his head back, "Go on, then. Why _did_ you pick her."

She smiled another twisted smile, her glowing eyes sparkling, and then raised a hand, beckoning him towards her, "Come with me. Let me tell you something about your precious little _Myra Hull_."

* * *

Myra looked around her, uneasily. She couldn't tell the exact time that had passed - she'd discovered quite soon that the sudden transportation to the sixteenth century had apparently been too much for her watch to cope with - but she knew it _had_ to have been at least thirty minutes since the Doctor had left.

Her eyes moved over to the ledge over the pit. She shook her head, immediately. She'd tried that once already. Every time she got anywhere near the edge, the Farons' song caught her again, and she'd had to force herself back. She couldn't risk that tiny platform knowing that as soon as she stepped foot on it the thought of falling might not seem that bad an idea to her anymore.

"Myra?"

She spun around, her heart pounding, "_Doctor_?"

"Myra? Myra, is that you?"

She turned again, searching for the voice, "Yeah, it's me, where _are_ you?"

"_Myra Hull_! If you don't answer me, I'm... I'm... I'm gunna be really ticked off."

She shook her head, impatiently, "Doctor? Doctor, I'm... I'm _here_! Where _are_ _you_?"

There was silence. She turned back where she came from, the echoes disorientating her. Her heart was hammering away in her chest, _thump-thump-thump-thump-__**thump**_ and she could no longer tell if she'd really _heard_ the voice or if she'd just imagined it.

She turned to where she thought the sound had come from, taking a cautious step forwards, "_Doctor_..."

He didn't reply, and she took another step forwards, "_Doctor_! Come on, where _**are**__ you_!"

Her own voice called back to her, echoing off the rocky walls.

"Myra?"

"_**Doctor**_!" she turned again, relieved, and started off down the path, "Doctor, I'm here!"

"_Myra_?"

She kept running, following the path, following the voice, "Doctor? Where _are_ you?"

"_Myra_!"

Myra ran smack into him, and quick took a few steps back, looking at him. The bubbling light of the lava shone off his suit and gave him a peculiar glow, but it was definitely him. Her Doctor. Laughing, she pulled him down into a tight hug, "_God_, I'm pleased to see you!"

"Get off me."

She flinched back, his tone cutting through her. Her eyes moved over him, hurt and confused, "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"_You_ are."

She raised an eyebrow, incredulously, "_Excuse_ me?"

The Doctor shook his head, sceptically, "Oh, don't act like that with me. I just had a run in with your little _friend_. The _anthromorph_."

"The _anthromorph_?" she repeated, panic instantly going through her brain, "Are you _okay_? Did you... did you _do_ it, did you get _rid_ of it?"

"No."

Her panic died, confusion and anger taking its place, "Why."

"Because I've found another way." His eyes flickered over her, looking her up and down, indifferently, almost _coldly_, "And that way is _you_."

She shook her head, not understanding, "Doctor, I don't -"

"You knew all along, didn't you?"

"_What_?"

"Knew about the anthromorph. We've been having a little _chat_." His eyes were dark, terrifying, and it was taking everything she had to stop herself backing away from him, "He told me what you were. What you _are_. What you were going to _do_."

"I _don't understand_."

He ignored her, eyes fixed on hers, "How the Blockade _really_ activated."

Myra looked at him, mouth open, finally realising what he was saying, feeling herself slipping a little in her desperation, her eyes welling up, "But, but he's a _Trickster_!" she took a step forwards and grabbed hold of his arm, not flinching when he pulled sharply away, "You _told_ me your_self_, you _can't trust_ him!"

"All along, Myra. He didn't want _me_. He wanted _you_. And the _TARDIS_."

"Doctor, I _swear_, I have no idea what he's talking about!"

"That's because you haven't done it yet." He looked at her again, his eyes calculating, "But you will. And that's why I have to go."

She moved towards him again, nodding, almost frantically, "_Good_, let's _go_, let's get _out_ of here!"

But he shook his head, slowly, "I said 'I'. Not 'we'." He paused a beat, looking at her, "You have to stay here."

"_What_?" she shook her head, giving a small, nervous laugh. He just looked at her. Her smile faded, and she shook her head again, "But... but you said you wouldn't _leave_ me, you _promised_ you'd get me _home_!"

He looked at her, watching her fall to pieces, emotionless, "That was before I found out what you are. I can't take you back to Earth it'd be too much of a risk, I'm sorry."

She shook her head, tears now flowing freely down her face, "_Doctor_! You _promised_ me!"

He shook his head, slowly, "I'm going back to the TARDIS. For your own sake, Myra, don't try to follow me." He paused, and then an almost unbearable disgust moved onto his face, "I'm sure your anthromorph will take care of you."

He turned to leave, and she shook her head, taking a step after him, "Wait!"

"Goodbye, Myra."

"Please, just, just... _wait_!"

"Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

"Just, just let me ask you a question. One question, just one question, please."

He turned back to her, his eyes just as cold, "What is it."

She wiped her face, breathing heavily, shaking, forcing herself to be strong, "Just... tell me this. What have you done with the Doctor."

* * *


	13. Chapter 13: The Nest

_Mbea's Trickster __**nummer dertien**__**:**__ 'The Nest'. Myra springs the trap, and the Doctor finds he's not quite as in control as he thought he was._

_Disclaimer - Strangely enough, I don't own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 13 - The Nest**

The Doctor looked at her, "What are you talking about."

"What have you done with him. What have you done with the Doctor."

He shook his head, darkly, "I _am_ the Doctor."

Myra shook her head, looking at him, "No. No, you're not." She paused a second, looking him up and down. Everything the Doctor had said, it made _sense_ now. He didn't _look_ right, his eyes and skin glowed an unnatural shade and his suit looked different, darker, like coal.

She took a step forwards, still shaking slightly but not crying anymore, "Where is he. What have you _done_ to him?"

He paused for a moment, and then laughed and shook his head, "Alright, alright. You got me!"

He took a step towards her and she backed away, immediately, "Where's the Doctor."

"Oh, tucked up nice and safe. I haven't taken him _yet_."

"I notice it's just 'I' now. What happened to the rest of you?"

He smiled, slowly, "Wouldn't _you_ like to know."

"Don't play games with me." He took another step and she backed away again. Her eyes flittered over him. She was having to force herself to recognise him as an enemy. His shape was so _convincing_. She glanced back up at his eyes, "This new form. Why him. Let me guess - you thought the message would come easier from a friendly face."

He smiled again, "Right in one, Myra Hull. You continue to impress."

He stepped again. Myra's shoulders hit the wall and she glanced at it quickly before moving her eyes back to his face, "What do you want."

"You." Then he seemed to change his mind and shook his head, "_And_ the TARDIS. And the Doctor."

"But... what chaos would you get from _my_ life? What use would feeding on _me_ make?"

"Well... when you came back in time to us -"

"Which _didn't happen_."

"- you told us what you'd done with the Doctor. You told us what happened, how you stole the TARDIS -"

"Which _didn't happen_!"

"- and returned back in time to create us. You never told us why. But you told us one thing that happens in the future that I... _we_... would like to change."

She shook her head, confused, "But _what_?"

He looked at her for a second, smiling, "You saved his life."

* * *

The Doctor looked around him, guardedly, "So this is it?"

"_It_?" the anthromorph repeated, sceptically.

He turned to her, quickly, "Oh, it's _impressive_, yes!" he looked around again, eyes lingering on the towering ceiling, "Pretty good for an incorporeal."

"Yes, that was the difficult bit, of course."

He nodded, thoughtfully, "How many people did you consume to make _this_, then."

She shrugged, offhand, "Two hundred? More? When with the Trickster's I could take less, of course, seeing as the ones I _did_ take had had a bit more... _sustenance_."

"Two hundred people..." he turned his back, hands in pockets, having a good look around, "Tell me. How did it feel? Taking their lives?"

"I didn't take their lives. Their lives just... never _were_."

"Then how did _that_ feel. _Stopping_ their lives, removing them from existence. How did it feel."

The creature seemed to consider it for a moment, "I don't know. I didn't really think about it."

The Doctor turned to her, closing the gap in a second, his expression perfectly serious, "But you're thinking about it _now_. How d'you feel about what you did?"

Myra paused, thinking about it, and then shook her head, perfectly calmly, "I don't know. I don't feel... _any_thing."

"Do you feel _sorry_?" he waited a beat, looking at her, "Did you _like_ it?"

"They were sustenance, _food_, that's all."

"They were _not... __**food**_." He paused, and then forced his voice to calm, "You can't just kill people, you _can't_."

"But... why not? Humans are hardly the most _important_ of species, they haven't even made _interstellar contact_ yet, well, not _properly_. Humans eat meat, don't they?"

"Scavenging a level 5 planet is against galactic law, against convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

"Galactic law only applies to those who have knowledge of it, _Time Lord_, and this _Shadow Proclamation _whatever the hell _that_ is, means _nothing_ to _me_."

"Then I'm telling you of it _now_." He shook his head, slowly, darkly, anger building up in his eyes, "You're back home. I can take the Trickster's power away from you, keep you on this planet. You can live here in peace."

"I can't _survive_ without _chaos_."

"Have you even _tried_ it?"

She looked at him for a second, "Without sustenance we would have no form. We'd be stuck here. No outside contact. You would be sentencing us to _silence_, _**Doctor**_. And for how long _this_ time, _another_ five hundred million years? We _need_ a _form,_ _**I**_ need a _form_."

"That's not my problem."

She took a step forwards, grabbing hold of his sleeve, "You could find us a form. A body. Someone to live inside."

"No, I can't do that, it's _wrong_."

She pressed it: "Just a body, just _one body_. That's all I would need. Just one body, an alive one, then I wouldn't need to feed ever again."

"And leave that one person stuck in their own head? Unable to control their body, unable to think, touch, feel, ever again, oh I don't think so."

A spark of anger appeared in her eyes, "But you _wanted_ me to _stop __**killing**_! And you won't give me a body! And you're _apparently_ not up to killing _me_, so what the hell is your problem? If I get a body I can stop consuming, _one_ life for _hundreds_, come _on_!"

"Even if I _would_ get you a body, you really think I'd _leave_ you here? The time I'd got back you could be _any_where!"

Myra stopped for a second, looking at him, "Then give me her."

The Doctor shook his head, immediately, "No."

"Give me _her_."

"_No_."

"You've got no other _choice_! What else would you have me _do_?"

He shook his head again, this time with a spark of anger and warning that made the creature flinch back slightly, "_Don't... even... __**go**__ there._" There was silence, and the Doctor nodded, slowly, "Myra's coming back with me. Where is she."

The girl paused, and then turned, sharply, facing away from him, "She's gone back to the TARDIS."

"She doesn't have a _key_." The anthromorph glanced at him, and he shook his head, bitterly, "I know full _well_ where she is. She's with your other form. You've split, half of you is with her and half of you is with me."

She shook her head, unconvincingly, "Don't be ridiculous."

"Ever listen to yourself speak? Since I first saw you you used the _plural_ personal pronoun 'we' but now you're speaking singular. Why? Because you're _not plural_ anymore. You're _singular_. Now tell me where she is."

The anthromorph paused, looking at him, and then shook her head, "No."

"Why not."

"Because I'm not done _talking_ to her yet."

"What are you talking _about_." He asked, his voice quiet.

"I'm a Trickster, Time Lord. And I thought that if I couldn't convince _you_, then I'd just have to try on _her_."

"What are you doing to her." He asked, sharply, anger and concern burning inside him, "What have you _done_?!"

She gave a small, lopsided smile, "I'm giving her what she wants. I've been inside her head, and I've seen... oh, _many_ things. Quite a lot about _you_, actually. She's curious about you."

"She's _UNIT_, of _course_ she is."

"Oh, a UNIT soldier, of _course_... Is _that_ what she told you..." the Doctor just looked at her, refusing to ask, refusing to let the words get into his head. She paused for a second, watching him, and then smiled, almost curiously, "What do _you_ want, Doctor?"

"What do you mean."

"What do you _want_? I've been inside your Myra's head and I've seen many things. But in _yours_... _nothing_. Not a single thing. Like you've... _hidden away _all your _thoughts_. So what is it you want."

"My _heart's desire_?" he asked, scathingly.

She smiled, "Yes, if you like. And twice as applicable with you."

"Yeah, yeah, binary-vascular system puns _aside_, tell me where she is."

"Is _that_ what you want?"

He gritted his teeth, "She's my friend. Let her go."

"No."

"I'm warning you. And I only give _one_ warning."

"So I've heard." The anthromorph paused, considering him, and then shook her head, "Fine. If _you_ won't tell me then I'll just have to go a _different_ route."

"What."

She smiled, "I'll ask _her_."

"Why would _she_ know."

She just shook her head, and then there was silence for a moment, as the anthromorph seemed to flick through Myra's memories and thoughts, "Ah. Of _course_."

The Doctor just looked at her, expectantly.

Myra looked back at him, smiling, curiously, "Well, isn't that just... so... _human_."

"What are you talking about."

"Your heart's desire, Doctor. Or, at least, _Myra's_ ideas at it."

"She doesn't know _any_thing."

"You'd be surprised, Time Lord." Her eyes started to glow, the shade becoming more intense.

He took a slow step back, "What are you doing."

"It takes power to change, Doctor. Give it time."

"Who are you changing into." He got no response, and anger flared up inside him again, "What are you _doing_."

"_Changing_, Time Lord. Into _this_."

The anthromorph started changing, its shape twisting and deforming, sparking with new colours and growing with just a few inches of added height.

The Doctor looked at the blur, carefully, and then started to see something familiar in the blur. He took a quick step back, "No. No, don't you dare, don't you _dare_!"

The thing kept changing, became more and more familiar, and he shook his head, anger and fury and hate burning inside him, "You think I was angry _before_, you think you saw the whole of it well I'm telling you that wasn't even half, and, unless you want to see the rest, DON'T YOU _DARE_!"

"Too late. Full transformation in..." she looked up at him with Myra's eyes, smiling that too vicious smile, "Ready, Doctor?"

He paused, and then shook his head, fury and something close to fear seizing him in equal measures, his whole body shaking, "No."

"Three. Two. _One_."

* * *


	14. Chapter 14: Plan B

_Mbea's Trickster __**nombre catorze**__**:**__ 'Plan B'. The anthromorph plays his final hand and Myra finds herself trapped between the Doctor and the one thing in the world she loves more._

_This chapter is a little darker than usual, by the way, warranting an overall change from K+ to T. Thought I'd warn you._

_Disclaimer - As pre-stated, I don't own Doctor Who :(_

* * *

**Chapter 14 - Plan B**

Myra shook her head, slowly, "I save his life?"

"Yes."

"And you want to change that."

"Yes."

She looked at him. The anthromorph was still uncomfortably close, still uncomfortably familiar in his chosen shape. She managed to keep his eyes, and shook her head, slowly, "That's never gunna happen."

"And why not."

"Because I'll do whatever I can to stop you."

"But _why_?" he pressed, shaking his head, sounding almost gently weary, "Why are you defending him?"

She shook her head, incredulously, "Because he's the _Doctor_! Because I _can_! _Or_, if you wanna go down the _egotistical_ route, because if _he_ dies then I'm stuck on a planet fifty thousand years ahead of my time with no way out! I _need_ him!"

"But you _don't_. Don't you understand? You _don't_ _need_ him. Don't you understand what I'm trying to give you?"

"No. No I don't."

He paused, watching her, and then took a step closer and put his hand on her cheek. She froze, her eyes fixed on his hand, not breathing. He smiled at her, softly, "How about now?"

"Please." She managed, her eyes still set on his touch, forcefully stopping herself from shaking.

"What."

"Don't touch me."

He paused, looking at her, and then took a stray lock of her hair and put it back behind her ear, ignoring the way she twitched back against the rock.

"_Don't_."

He stroked her hair and then leaned forwards, kissing the side of her cheek, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist.

"Please, just don't."

His burnt hazel eyes caught hers and he moved his hand down her shoulder, pushing the strap of her dress down slightly, and then leant down to kiss her skin.

"Get off of me." She said, her fear and just a spark of anger quietening her voice to something less than a whisper.

The Doctor smiled, kissed her neck and then moved backwards.

Myra let go of the breath she had been holding and stared at him. She couldn't stop the shaking now, "Now stop it. Just stop it. Please."

He smiled again, then took a hold on her hand, drew it up to his mouth and kissed it, softly, his teeth barely brushing her knuckle and his tongue making the slightest touch on her skin. With all her strength, she yanked her hand away from him, feeling it hit the wall behind her sharply.

She looked at him, and then shook her head, slowly, "That's not gunna work on me. Okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because _you're not him_. You're not the Doctor. You've just taken his face."

He gave her a small, encouraging smile, "But I _am_. Don't you see? I've been inside his head. I've absorbed his memories. And everything that he is... I'm capable of that too."

"You're _using_ his _words_." she shook her head, firmly, incredulously, no idea why he seemed not to understand, "You've stolen his face, his words, the way he speaks, the way he _acts_. That's _all you are_, anthromorph. You're an absorber. You latch onto an entity and you create an echo of it. And that's all you are. An _echo_."

She moved forwards, brushing against him for less than a second before turning, getting out of the corner. She looked at him, "Take me to the Doctor."

The anthromorph looked at her for a second, and then shook his head, "Well, worth a try, right? But time to move on, I'm thinking."

"Move on to what."

"Plan B." He smiled, slowly, and then clicked his fingers and gestured to his right with his thumb, keeping his eyes on her.

She frowned and looked to the right. Then her eyes widened, "_Faye_!"

* * *

Myra pulled out of his way, running to her, "_Faye_? Oh my God, Faye, can you hear me?"

"I wouldn't touch her if I were you."

She ignored him and reached out. Blue sparks shot towards her, scorching her hand, and she flinched back, sharply, shaking out her hand. She looked at the area where she had touched, and, hesitantly, reached out her hand again, this time not going as far. The sparks shot at her again but with far less heat, and blue lines rippled from her touch, forming a large circle around Faye.

She kept her hand still, not quite touching the dome of light. Then she moved her eyes back down to her sister, "Faye? It's gunna be alright, okay? Listen to me. It's going to be alright."

"Myra!" Her sister managed, her voice thin and scared, her eyes flickering between her and the man behind, "Thank God you're okay! Where the hell are we?"

She hesitated, and then just shook her head, "Don't worry about it, okay? Are you alright?"

"Myra?"

Myra shook her head, quickly, recognising that voice, feeling her heart sink and eyes fill as she leant round to see the girl behind her, "Maddie!" she paused and then forced her voice to sound more casual, more comforting, "Hey there, darling, how you doing?"

Her niece shook her head, her beautiful brown curls swishing over her face, "Where are we?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, but, I'll tell you what, I'm gunna find out, okay?"

A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away, firmly, and then straightened up, turning round to face him, forcing up anger to keep her going, "You better hope you're as incorporeal as you say you are 'cause I'm gunna _beat_ the _crap_ out of you! _Send them back home_!"

"Myra, that's David Tennant."

She glanced back, stemming her anger for a moment, "Actually, it's the Doctor. More or less."

"I don't care, what the hell is _he_ doing here?"

"Faye, it's a long story, let me handle it, okay?"

"But -"

"I said let me _handle_ it. Just trust me." She looked back at 'the Doctor' again, raising an eyebrow, expectantly, "Well? I'm waiting."

The anthromorph watched her, emotionlessly, "You know what, I've just figured out why you did it. Why you created me. I don't understand _much_ about humans, but it seems that you'll go to ridiculous lengths to look after family. Maybe it's something about protecting your blood-line, protecting your DNA."

"Oh, trust you to reduce it to animal instincts! It's _emotion_! Something you wouldn't know anything about!" she looked him up and down, disgustedly, "I was stupid to ever feel sorry for you. _Stupid_ to think you could ever be redeemed, because you don't _want_ to be redeemed! You see exactly what's wrong with what you're doing and yet you still _do_ it! _Why_?!"

He shrugged, infuriatingly casually, "Everyone's gotta survive, Myra. Humans know that better than _any_one."

"Well you won't be surviving for much longer if you don't send them back and _now_, anthromorph!"

He sighed, shaking his head, "Alright. How about we compromise?"

He clicked his fingers again, and she spun around. Faye was gone, leaving little Madeleine by herself.

"Mum!" she called, looking around her, frantically, "_Mummy_!"

"Maddie, Maddie, look at me, _look_ at me!" she waited until the young girl had swung her desperate gaze onto her and then forced a small smile, "It's gunna be okay. Listen to me, it's gunna be okay."

"What's _happening_?"

"Just a nightmare." She said, soothingly, her hand moving automatically out to touch her before realising she couldn't, and then dropping back to her side, "Just a nightmare, baby. Close your eyes. It's gunna be fine."

The girl leant back against the wall, shivering slightly.

"Close your eyes." She coaxed again, smiling, encouragingly, "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

Maddie hesitated, and then closed her eyes. Her lips were moving, quickly, and Myra knew from personal experience that she was singing under her breath, probably Hush-a-Bye Mountain. It was the song Faye had taught her when she used to have nightmares when she was even smaller, just a little kid. Right now the tiny muffled tone sent a chill down Myra's spine.

She felt a hand fall on her shoulder and she span around, immediately, brushing him off her, "Don't touch me. What the _hell_ d'you think you're doing." She looked him up and down, for the first time since she landed on this rock actually afraid, "You can send them back by just snapping your fingers? How can you even _do_ that?"

"Actually, it took one hell of a lot of power." He smiled at her, casually, "I just make it _look_ easy. I'm good at that."

Myra shook her head, forcing her concern not to sound in her voice: "You've gotta let her go. Please. Just let her go."

"I wouldn't get much chaos out of _her_ life, I admit. Though, then again... a child never born... Might have repercussions, I suppose. Absorbing her might get a little bit out of _Faye_, maybe..."

She paused, and then looked at him, "You wouldn't." She managed, shaking her head. She was shaking slightly.

He raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I would."

"But you _can't_!" she said, desperately, "Look, she's just a _kid_, just a little girl, she's got nothing to _do_ with this!"

"Myra?"

She glanced at her and then straight back to him, "Look, what do you want. Just tell me what you want, I'll do anything, _what do you __**want**__ from me_?!"

The Doctor looked at her, perfectly calm, a cold contrast to her borderline hysteria, "I want you to do what you were always going to do. I want you to do what you're here for."

"What d'you mean."

"I want you to be my creator."

She shook her head, "I can't do that."

"You _will_ do that, Myra Hull, you've got no other choice."

"Oh _really_?" she looked at him, her heart thumping in her chest, shaking uncontrollably, "Because it seems to me that if I don't do anything, don't go back in time, don't create you, then you'll never have existed. You'll fade away, and so will I, and so this whole _goddamned __**place**_! And then _everything_ will be back to normal!"

"I can easily find someone _else_, _Myra Hull_, don't think that you are in any way irreplaceable." She hesitated, and that was enough to show him she was unsure. He gave her a small, cold smile, "And, anyway." He looked at Madeleine and then back up to her, "If you think you could watch anything happen to that child - whether everything's going to be back to normal or _not_ - go ahead. Don't listen to me. Do whatever you want. _Or_..." He continued, his eyes fixed on her, the eyes she had come to know, but in no sense like _this_, "...if you think maybe you're just a bit too... _human_ for that... maybe you'll consider doing what I've asked."

"Myra?" the girl asked again, quickly, her voice scared enough to cut through her heart.

She turned around again, looking at her, smiling that fake smile, "Close your eyes, baby. Just a nightmare, it'll be over soon, I promise."

"Myra, what does he want?"

"It doesn't matter, honey. I'm gunna keep you safe, you hear me?"

Maddie paused, looking at her, and then nodded, slowly.

"Be brave for me now, sweetheart."

"Okay."

She turned again, collecting herself before she opened her mouth: "I can't... betray him. I just can't."

"Okay. The question is: can you betray _her_?"

She kept her eyes on him, knowing she couldn't stomach looking at her niece's terrified little face again. The she shook her head, "But I can't... I don't even know _how_ to... I wouldn't know where to _start_."

"Well, that's okay, then, because _I __**do**_."

"What d'you mean."

"I mean I've been inside the Doctor's head." He looked at her for a second, almost _concernedly_, "I could put the information I found inside _you_."

She shook her head, immediately, "That wouldn't work, a Time Lord's consciousness in a human's brain - I'd burn up."

"Depends how much I put in. For this... I'd only need to put in the TARDIS. Enough information for you to pilot it. To _steal_ it." He looked at her again, raising an eyebrow, "That's all I want. That's all you need to do."

"I... I..." Myra closed her eyes, and shook her head, slowly, her voice breaking, "I can't, I _can't_."

"Can't or _won't_?"

"Can't, won't, what's the _difference_!" she shook her head, grabbing his arm, "Please, she's _just_... a _kid_, she's just a little girl, she's _innocent_ in all this, you _can't_,you can't _do_ this!" she broke off, her breath caught in her throat, and then shook her head, tears streaming down her face, "Please."

The Doctor just looked at her, his expression completely blank, "You know what I want." He paused, his eyes moving over her shoulder, curiously, "What's her name?"

Anger boiled up inside of her, "Don't you even _look_ at her."

He raised an eyebrow, "Alright. Then I'll just get it from your head." He moved surprisingly quickly, pushing her against the wall, his hands on her temples, like the Doctor did, but nowhere near as gentle.

"Ah. _Madeleine Rose Barlow_... Pretty name."

"Leave her alone, get _off_ of me!"

"You're going to go find your Doctor - he's the only one with the key - and get him out of here. Get to the TARDIS. Then I'll put it inside you. Then you're going to do whatever it is you do to him and then fly the ship back in time nine hundred million years, did you get that? Nine hundred million years. Then you're going to make sure the nanogenes are there in the right place at the right time. Hear me?"

She paused, and then nodded, still shaking, tears pouring down her cheeks, "Alright. Alright."

"And, if you _don't_... well. Little Maddie's staying here."

"_Don't call her that_." She yanked herself out of his grip, glaring at him. Then she shook her head, slowly, "Where is he. The Doctor."

He nodded down a path to her right, "About twenty minutes that way. Don't turn off, just keep going."

She nodded, slowly, and then turned away, crouching down beside Maddie, wiping away her tears, "Hello, sweetheart."

"Don't go." She said, quietly, her voice little less than a whimper.

"I've got to. But, listen to me. Just close your eyes, sing your Hush-a-Bye Mountain, and I'll be back before you know it, yeah?"

"Where's mummy, Myra? And who's that man?"

"Don't look at him, honey. Look at _me_." She waited, and then smiled again, "Come on, now. Go to sleep. Mummy will be back soon, and so will I. Go to sleep. I love you."

"Love you too."

She smiled, and then kissed the tips of her fingers and held it out to her, careful around the shield she knew was there. The girl echoed her, and then retreated back into the corner and closed her eyes.

Myra paused, watching her, and then straightened up, drawing in a deep breath, keeping her eyes on the wall, "If you hurt her..."

"Why would I need to?"

She paused, her whole body shivering, and then shook her head, slowly, "You're scum. You're _nothing_. D'you hear me?"

She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye, "That's right." He glanced at a watch on his wrist, "Now. You haven't got much time left. You better hurry. Twenty minutes that way, keep to the path. And, Myra?"

She glanced back at him, eyes cold as steel, "What."

The Doctor smiled, slowly, "_Run_."

* * *


	15. Chapter 15: Trickster

_Mbea's Trickster __**broj petnaest**__**:**__ 'Trickster'. The anthromorph shows its true colours._

_Disclaimer - Again, I don't own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 15 - Trickster**

The Doctor turned his back, immediately, still shaking, taking in deep breaths and forcing his hearts to calm.

"Doctor?" he didn't move, didn't reply, and he heard the thing take a step closer, "_Doctor_? Aren't you even going to _look_ at me?"

"Nope." He replied, steadily, easily, though the familiarity of that voice had cut straight through him.

"But it's _me_. Doctor, it's _me_. It's _Rose_."

He span on his heel, walking up to her, his pulse thumping in his chest, anger smouldering inside of him, "You are an _echo_. _Nothing_ more!"

Rose looked up at him, her brown eyes full of false hurt, moving over him. He hesitated, looking at her, and then shook his head, slowly, looking at the purity and detail of her eyes compared with the mist of Myra's a moment before, "You're getting better at this."

She shook her head and smiled, the expression still with a touch of sadness, an emotion far too genuine for him, "I'm a fast learner."

The Doctor paused, and then ran his eyes down her, critically. He forced himself to pick out the anthromorph's mistakes - her too-pale skin, the shade of her purple and blue jacket, the way her hair curled - forced himself to recognise what this was in front of him. Then he moved his eyes back up to hers, "Get out of her."

She paused, looked at him, for the first time a touch of danger entering her eyes, "Why."

"Look, pick any shape you want, I don't _care_, just _not __**her**_."

"I thought you'd be pleased to see me."

"You knew full well that I wouldn't. Get out of her."

The anthromorph paused, and then smiled, playfully, mockingly, "I don't think so, Time Lord. Whatever this human is to you, whatever she really means to you... it seems she keeps you under control, at least." He shook his head, angrily, and took a step forwards. She took a sharp step back and held up her hand, still with that manipulative, mocking smile, "You wouldn't hurt your Rose, would you?"

He looked at her, shaking his head again, anger building and building, "You're _not my Rose_."

"Oh, so she _was_ yours?"

"Stop it." There was silence for a second, and then he turned around, looking at the walls again, "Why did you build this place?"

"What?"

"Why did you build this place. Myra and I were wondering. You can hop through all of time and space and you come back and build a home _here_, _**why**_?" she didn't reply, and he turned back, looking at her, ignoring the shape and looking at the creature inside, "Is it... _sentimental value_? Some sort of emotional connection? You're very psychic, I've noticed that, is _this_ something to do with it? Some sort of... psychic _pathway_? Or maybe the Trickster's powers need some sort of relay centre, is _that_ it? Some sort of temporal link? Maybe a..."

He looked up, and then glanced at her, expectantly, pointing to the ceiling, "What's that?" she didn't reply, and the Doctor looked back up again.

He frowned. It was hard to see, but every now and then a flicker of light would move across the rock, like a pulse, like an electric pulse. He paused, watching it, counting the seconds between them, then realisation passed over him.

He looked back down at her, smiling, slowly, "Power. That's it, isn't it? _Power_. Like a... Heliotrion particle... _energy_... thing. An energy converter? But why..." he paused, thinking fast, and then smiled again, "A _radiation_ converter. Yes? Oh, Myra said it all along, there was no _way_ you harnessed this by yourself! This place is a _Baytron radiation converter_! Ooh, I thought so, two hundred people, not _nearly_ enough, you'd need more. The radiation formed you. Radiation pressurised by the core of the planet, for some reason resulting in... _you_." He looked her up and down, distastefully, "A _shape_-shifter. But that same radiation can be _channelled_, yes? As _fuel_. Like a... _pit _stop."

Rose looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "Very clever, Doctor. Yes. It's not just a... _random_ choice. I can survive longer here without sustenance."

"And I thought it was just home..." he shook his head, turning on her, "I actually almost felt sorry for you. You know _Myra_ pitied you as well. Thought you'd gone insane, said _any_one would, locked up here... all by yourself... for all those years..." then he shook his head again, disgustedly, "Except you're not human enough to do that. Not whole enough to realise it's a bad thing in the _first_ place. You don't care, you just... _eat_."

She nodded, simply, "Yep. I'm a survivor, Doctor. I won't apologise for it."

"And there's nothing else left, is there. No sense of emotion, no empathy, no... _humanity_."

"Humanity means different things to both of us, Time Lord. You've spent so much time with them that you've forgotten what you are. And what _they_ are. They are _nothing_, Doctor! They're _tiny_, so _small_."

"At the _moment_." He corrected, firmly, and then cocked his head to one side, shrugging, "They're just... a tad slow on the uptake, that's all."

She gave a horribly familiar laugh and shook her head, "But I've been to the tips of the _universe_! I've seen all of creation! We were at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, World War One, World War _Six_, we've been to Duchamp 331, Mars in 99000, Eden, Meta Sigmafolio, Arileli of the Widri System, Doctor, we have been _everywhere_!" she paused, looking at him, "But not as far as you. You have been from the beginning of the universe to the end of it, the end of time itself, you have _seen_, _**Doctor**_... _every_thing."

"Oh, no, not _every_thing. What would be the point if I'd seen _every_thing? Why would I keep going, might as well _stop_!" then he looked at her, seriously, "That's what you want, then? You want to see the universe?"

"I _have_, Doctor."

He frowned, "Whatd'ya mean?"

"I mean I've _seen_ it, Doctor. All of time and space. All of existence."

"What does _that_ mean?"

"But I want to _experience_ it, Doctor! Like _you_ have! I want to _go_ there, to _be_ there!"

He paused, looking at her, still frowning, "Well, why _don't_ you? You've got the Trickster's power, why _haven't_ you."

She paused for a second, and then shook her head, "The Brigade are still hunting me. The only time I dare go out is for sustenance, when I _must_ feed."

He raised an eyebrow, "Not including a day trip to thirteenth century Korea?"

She smiled, "That _was_ for sustenance. Plenty of good fighters in the Korean War. Could run off them for a few years." She looked him up and down, and her smile grew, "Except who do I meet, but a _Time_ Lord. The _last_ of the Time Lords. Of all the people to run into, in all of creation, the last Time Lord in _existence_..."

"Well, I do seem to run into trouble quite a bit. Force of habit, I think."

"Yes, I've noticed that. Wherever you go... followed by _destruction._ _Death_. How many have died by your hand... _Doctor_."

The Doctor looked at her. These words helped him, helped him a lot. Because Rose wouldn't say those words. Not in a million years. And this wasn't her. Now he could think objectively. Now her words wouldn't creep within his skull.

He took a breath and looked at her, "You took a Time Lord so you could remove me from the universe, feed off the chaos that came from it. So why haven't you done it yet."

"Well. Long story. But, basically... when we tried to delete the Trickster there was a paradoxical effect - we wouldn't have the power to get rid of him if we hadn't joined the Brigade - so, just for a second, an echo went back through the infinite temporal flux. We couldn't finish osmosis."

"But _he_ couldn't absorb _you __**either**_."

"Exactly. But the Trickster followed the echo through the causal nexus back to the point of our creation. He wasn't able to _stop_ it, but he was able to twist our DNA slightly, infuse us with Heliotrion particles, so he could always follow us, always find us." She paused for a moment, and then shook her head, "He will always be able to track us down."

"Except in my TARDIS." He completed, slowly.

"Yes. Your ship has hermetic shielding. It's impenetrable by radar, scanner, even the biological analyses the Trickster has."

"The perfect escape." He paused, looking at her, "Those words you're using... they're mine, aren't they. I thought you said you couldn't get in to my thoughts."

"I couldn't. They're your words, but not your thoughts."

He frowned, looking at her, "But... then whose thoughts _are_ they?"

"_Doctor_!"

* * *


	16. Chapter 16: Running in a Dress

_Mbea's Trickster __**numru sittax:**__ 'Running in a Dress'. Myra's got some tricks up her sleeves, but the anthromorph's message was all too clear._

_Disclaimer - No copyright, no rights :(_

* * *

**Chapter 16 - Running in a Dress**

Myra tightened her grip, keeping her aim firm, "Get away from him."

The blonde woman stayed very still, slowly raising her hands, "Myra."

"I said get _away_ from him."

She paused, and then nodded, and took a few steps back. She turned to face her, and Myra almost stumbled back herself, "_Rose_?" she looked her over, and then shook her head, disgustedly, "Oh, you just _would_, wouldn't you? Further back, _move_."

The Doctor was staring at her, completely nonplussed, shaking his head, "Myra, what... what is that?"

She glanced down at her hands and then back up, "It's an Acan U90 Cyberequalizer."

He looked at her, paused, and then shook his head again, "A _what_?"

"A _gun_, Doctor, a small, powerful gun."

"Where the hell did you get _that_?"

She looked at him and shot him a faint wink and a smile, "Wouldn't you like to know." She moved her eyes back to 'Rose' again, "And _you_: _**keep back**_."

Rose looked at her for a second, and then smiled, shaking her head, "Myra. I'm incorporeal. That's not going to affect me."

"Oh, you wanna bet? This thing doesn't fire _bullets, __**anthromorph**_, it fires _energy_. It fires _radiation_. Specifically, _Baytron_ radiation. It's like one tiny little x-ray machine."

The Doctor shook his head, taking a step towards her, wary around the barrel of the gun, "Myra, it _feeds_ off that radiation, it _consumes_ it!"

She glanced at him, "Really? Unprocessed? Raw radiation? I don't think so. Anyway. You're seventy percent water, you can still _drown_." Eyes back again, her hands tightening on the grip, finger sliding onto the trigger, "Now. I'm taking a big gamble here. I don't know what this is going to do, I've got no idea. But I'm betting _you_ have, right?"

The anthromorph looked at her, smiling slightly lopsidedly with a sort of amused suspicion. What was it thinking right now? She could only guess. Her heart was throbbing in her chest, her breathing quick and shallow, but she kept her grip tight, eyes not leaving hers.

Rose took one last look at the gun and then backed away, kept moving until her back hit the wall.

Myra let out a breath and then turned to the Doctor, urgently, "Doctor, I was followed here."

He frowned, "Who by?"

"Not 'who', _'what'_." She glanced back over her shoulder and then back to him, "I think I lost them, but they couldn't have been far behind."

"What _were_ they?"

She shook her head, incredulously, "I didn't exactly stop to ask them! No idea!"

"Well, what did they _look_ like?"

"_I_ don't know, _big_!" she shook her head, fighting for words, "Like... like... green and black... scaly... about..." she took one hand off the gun, placing it level with her shoulders, "This big. Four legs. Horned... kinda like... like..."

"Dinosaurs?"

"Dinosaurs?" she thought for a second, titling her head, letting her hand fall to her side, "Dinosaurs. I suppose so, yeah. Maybe. Kinda like... a stegosaurus."

He frowned, and then a touch of panic entered his eyes, "Four horns? Two on each side of its head? Spiked spine?"

"Yeah, that's the one, have you two met?"

His eyes darkened, immediately, "Carrasöl."

"Great, now we know its name, what the hell are we gunna _do_ about it?"

"How many were there."

"I dunno, _lots_."

He didn't seem to hear her. He looked around the cavern, quickly, glancing down the corridor she had just come from, "They've probably got your scent. They'll track you down, now they're not dormant they'll need -"

"_Doctor_! What do we do."

He looked at her, paused for a second, and then grabbed hold of her spare hand, "Run."

She looked at him, "What, in a dress?"

He shook his head, impatiently, "Oh, what _is_ it with human females and dresses?!"

"Have _you_ ever run in one?"

"Actually, _no_, not recently! Now _come __**on**_!"

He grabbed her shoulders and wheeled her around, running full pelt down the nearest path. Myra followed him, quickly, keeping her gun pointed at Rose, turning around so that she could keep her in sight until right at the last moment. The anthromorph watched them leave, not trying to stop them. Myra glanced at her, shaking her head, disgustedly. Rose smiled. Then they turned the corner, and she was gone.

* * *

Myra pushed the gun back into her jeans pocket and ran, faster than she'd ever ran before. She was right on the Doctor's heels. Before they had gone more than sixty feet a loud, long howl echoed through the paths behind them. They looked at each other, frozen for a moment, and then picked up the pace. Pretty soon after they started to hear the pounding of footsteps, _animal_ footsteps, and close.

"Myra, come on, _RUN_!"

She shook her head but didn't comment, saving her energy for the chase. A stitch moved painfully through her side, but she kept running. She had no choice. She could hear her thrumming heart in her chest, and her breath had long since got short. The Carrasöl - whatever the hell they were - were fast and out for blood, and the two were hard put to keep them from catching up.

"This way!" the Doctor yelled, and she immediately swerved to the left, catching her shoulder painfully on the rocky wall as she did so, ignoring it, deftly.

At the next turning she glanced over her shoulder, hoping that they had lost them. No such luck. They were even _closer_. She could see flashes of dark green scales swishing into view, not that far behind. She pushed herself to go faster, harder, the Doctor's grip on her hand amazingly tight. She couldn't breathe. Then, finally -

"The gravity platform! There it is!"

She swerved towards it. The path started to rise, steeping upwards. The Doctor pulled her onwards, smacking the button on the wall as he passed it, dragging her right the way onto the platform, both of them going so fast, and they hit the rocky wall before they could think to stop.

* * *

"Ouch." Myra said, shaking her head. Carefully, she untangled herself, wincing as pain spread through her body.

The Doctor groaned, pulling himself to his feet, "Yeah, I think _ouch_ is the appropriate word right now..."

She looked around her, quickly, listening. She could hear a gentle hum, like movement. The floor was swelling, swaying, and Myra took a moment to feel the momentum beneath her feet before she turned to the man once again, "We made it." She paused, and then laughed, "We _made_ it! Fan_tastic_!"

He frowned at her, teasingly, "Of _course_ we did! Said we would, didn't I?"

She shook her head, still laughing, and then walked over to him, "Come here, you!"

She pulled him into a hug, squeezing so tight that he started to protest. "Don't you _dare_ leave me ever again, do you understand me, _ever_!" she paused, looking at him, and then pulled him back down again, "Oh, you _stupid_ man, you stupid, _stupid_ man..."

"Hey, hey, cool it down!" he replied, awkwardly, patting her on the arm, "Yeah, I missed you too, now, come on, pull yourself together."

"I thought I was gunna die down there."

"Yeah, I know, but it's alright, we're alright now, okay?"

She paused, and then withdrew, giving him air, "Sorry."

He tilted his head to the side in a sort of half-shrug, "Don't mention it." The floor beneath them stopped with a slight shudder. He looked up, smiling, "Ah, here we go. End of the line." The roof opened, showering bright, bright sunlight in. Myra winced and covered her eyes. The platform shuddered to a start again, taking them up the last few feet. The Doctor looked back at her, "Come on, back to the TARDIS, there's one more thing I can try."

He jumped up the last bit to the sand and then he was off, not running this time, but continuing his fast pace. She caught up with him, this time with a slightly hastened pace, her smile faltering. The TARDIS. God, the TARDIS... Here we go...

"The thing is, right, the tunnels the anthromorph built weren't just tunnels, he changed the whole central chamber into a _radiation_ converter, something that could change the Baytron radiation, not into something that could be consumed, not as such, but it's like _sustenance_, just something to tide him by until he can get the next entity to delete."

"Doctor?"

"So if I can just go back in time to when the anthromorph was created, _before_, maybe, then I might be able to _do_ something about it, I don't know, put a damper on the osmosis, or something."

"Doctor, I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Difficult, I couldn't do that without crossing our personal timelines, and, anyway, I wouldn't know what to _change_! All this stuff, that science, the way he's transporting people across space like that, pulling people _through __**time**_, _blimey_, that's _ferocious_ power, I've never seen anything _like_ it..."

"Doctor, are you even listening to me?"

"But, then again, a radiation converter built of scrap and tape, can't be _that_ complex, I should be able to find my way around it well enough, but, still I don't feel comfortable crossing our personal timelines without knowing what events _brought_ us here, I'm not risking another -"

"_DOCTOR_!"

The Doctor looked at her, raising his eyebrows, startled but amazingly sarcastic: "Sorry, were you saying something?"

"I... I need to tell you something."

He paused, and his expression softened at the look on her face, "What's wrong."

"I..." she looked away, unable to keep his eyes, his concern burning through her. Then she frowned, looking up again, "Did you hear that?"

He shook his head, wearily, "You're doing it again..."

"Stop it - shut up and listen."

She waited for a second, listening intently, and then spun around. She froze, and then reached out a hand, slowly, hitting him on the arm, "_Doctor_..."

He turned around, and then froze to the spot, "O..._kay_..."

"You're telling _me_?"

A Carrasöl stood in front of them, growling. It looked bigger close up. Also not _nearly_ as dinosaur-like. Now it looked kind of like a giant cat-reptile mix. It licked its razor teeth with a black, forked tongue and she shivered, reflexively. She'd never _seen_ something so... _alien_.

"Doctor?"

"Stay very, very still, d'you hear me? Don't move."

She gave a small, strangled laugh, "Move? Are you joking? I'm not moving an inch."

"Good good. Now. Any ideas?"

"Not one. You?"

"Between you and me... no."

"Why is it just... _standing_ there?"

"What about that, that Cyberequalizer... _thing_, the Acan U90?"

"What, are you kidding?" she shook her head, slowly, "It's not made by Acan."

"Who's it made by, then?"

She didn't look at him, "Hamleys."

He turned and stared at her, "_What_?!"

The thing took a sharp step towards them and gave a long, threatening growl. She leaned back a bit, her heart missing a beat or two, licking her lips, nervously, "I thought you said don't move."

"It's getting closer."

"I can see that, thanks." She thought exceptionally quickly, taking small, slow steps backwards as the beast came closer. Then she looked at him, "Wait. I've got an idea."

"Better be a good one, Myra."

She reached a hand out, slowly, put it on his shoulder and pushed, "Down. Get down."

"What?"

"Just... down. Now."

She got herself down to her knees, slowly, keeping her head bowed, her eyes fixed on the floor, "Avert your gaze. Keep your eyes off it."

"Myra..."

"Just do it." She saw him follow her advice out of the corner of her eye. The Carrasöl looked at them for a second, titling its horned head to one side. She took in a breath, and then, slowly, lowered herself down, getting onto her side, "Further. _Doctor_."

He shot her a look, and then nodded, slowly, and followed her actions. She kept moving down, until she felt sand touch her shoulders, down more, until her back was flat against the ground.

She squeezed her eyes shut, "God, I hope this works..." she murmured under her breath.

"You _hope_?"

She didn't look at him, kept her eyes firmly shut. Then she felt something brush against her arm. He took her hand, squeezing, gently. She opened her eyes, caught his. She managed a small, shaky smile, and then moved her gaze onto the Carrasöl.

It moved smoother now it had added height, and walked over to them, sniffing. It nuzzled against her arm and she flinched, her breathing becoming sharper, harder, her heart seizing in her chest. It moved over to the Doctor, pushing its forehead against his, moving it to the side. It paused, and then plodded round to the other side, crouching down, nudging against his shoulder, expectantly. He didn't react, let the beast move him. The Carrasöl looked at him for a second, and then moved back to Myra.

She tensed, automatically, feeling its breath on her skin. It bent down to her and put its face near hers. She averted her eyes, immediately, looking down at the sand. It put out its forked tongue and licked her cheek. She shuddered, but kept herself forcefully still. The Doctor tightened his grip on her hand. The Carrasöl sniffed around her, getting her scent, moving her hair with its nose. Then it snorted, gave her one last nuzzle and then, losing interest, turned and walked away.

* * *

Myra stayed still for quite some time after the Carrasöl had gone out of sight, shaking. Then she rolled her head to the other side, "You alright?"

The Doctor looked at her, incredulously, "_Hamleys_?!"

She shook her head, ignoring him and giving a small, relieved smile, "I am so glad that worked." She paused, and then got to her feet, brushing sand off her clothes, holding out a hand. He took it and she pulled him up.

"Saw it on Discovery Channel. This reporter guy went out to live with wolves, and to get introduced to the pack you have to expose your weak spot, to show trust, vulnerability. I thought, what the hell."

He looked at her for a second, seemingly not knowing what to say, and then just shook his head, "_Hamleys_."

She shook her head, pulling out the 'gun' from her pocket, flipping it in the air and catching it by the barrel, then tossing it to him, "Oh, don't be thick, Doctor. A _radiation gun_? A _Cyberequalizer_? Where would _I_ get a _radiation gun_? I don't even know if radiation guns _exist_!" she glanced at him and shot him a small smile, "Earth girl, remember?"

He paused for a second, looking at her, and then a smile spread onto his face, "Brilliant! Oh, Myra, that's just _brilliant_! One thing - what are you doing with a toy pistol?"

"Oh, it's..." she stopped, and then forced the smile back on her face, "It's... it's my niece's. Still had it on me in the hospital, must've forgotten to take it out my pocket this morning."

He didn't notice, his eyes on plastic pistol, smiling, "Oh, that is so dinky! So clever! Where'd you get _that_ idea from, then?"

She smiled, "_You_."

He frowned at her, "What?"

"Oh, sorry... not yet."

He paused, looking at her for a moment, frowning and smiling, curious but apparently in too good a mood to press it, "Wolves, right?"

"Yep."

"Carrasöls... aren't wolves."

"No, they're not."

"So what made you think it would work?"

She paused, and then shrugged, smiling, "You wanna know the truth? I didn't."

"Oh."

"But it's the only idea I had. Had to give it a try."

"I guess you did..." he paused, looking at her, and then shook his head, "_Right_, okay then. So, what were you saying?"

She frowned, "Sorry?"

"You were saying something. You said you needed to tell me something. Remember?"

She paused, looking at him for a second. Her mind was racing a million miles an hour, and her heart was thumping again. Then she forced a smile, "Doesn't matter. Don't worry about it."

He paused again, and then smiled, "Right! Let's get moving." He nodded in front of him, to the TARDIS, just visible against the sun, around eighty feet away. He set off at a run, and, after a moment, Myra followed him.

* * *

"_Here_ we go, now, let's just see..."

Myra walked in behind him, slowly, letting her hand trail across the railing.

"Carrasöls don't have dens anywhere _near_ this planet, the anthromorph must have brought them here, and that would give off an energy signature, Heliotrion particles again, let's have a quick look-see..."

**Ready, Myra?**

She didn't flinch, just looked up at the Doctor. He had his back to her, flipping switches and turning dials, full of enthusiasm. She turned her head, and then nodded, slowly, a tear trickling down her cheek.

**Okay. Hold on tight. I'm not gunna lie... this might hurt.**

She tightened her grip on the railings, bracing herself.

**Ready? **_**Now**_**.**

She frowned, and leant over slightly, her breath coming short. She put a hand up to her chest. Then she let out something close to a yelp, and doubled-over, clenching her fists on the railing. The pain in her head was _excruciating_. She couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't _think_, every move she made spreading white-hot streams of pain through her body. Her legs buckled and she fell to the floor, her hands abandoning the fence and seizing her searing head. She felt as if every nerve in her body had been burnt raw. She curled herself inwards, vaguely feeling someone's hands grabbing her shoulders. Oh God, it was _unbearable_.

"Myra? Myra, _Myra_, are you okay?"

The voice sounded tinny in her head, as if it was coming through a busted speaker. Or a busted_ eardrum_.

Against all odds, she managed to speak four words: "_Stay away from me_."

"No. Look at me, what's wrong, what's going on, _talk_ to me!"

**Hold on, Myra Hull, we're not through this yet.**

If it was even possible, the pain increased again, and she cried out. She couldn't breathe, and her lungs were beginning to burn in protest. She could just about see the Doctor in front of her, on his knees, "What's going _on_! Myra! _Myra_, can you hear me?"

She could, just about. The pain was killing her senses.

"Myra? Myra, hold on, okay?" he pulled his screwdriver out of his pocket and held it up to her, "I can cancel out the signal, hold on."

The light and noise cut through her brain sharper than a knife and she recoiled, fighting to get her head out the way, "No, _stop_ that!"

"I'm sorry, Myra, I'm so sorry, just a bit more, okay, nearly done."

"Stop, _don't_, _**please**_."

"Nearly done, just a second, stay with me."

Suddenly, the pain stopped, and she was able to breathe. She rolled onto her back, dragging in breath after breath of air, her gasps matched only by her dry sobs. Slowly and shakily, she rolled back over, and pushed herself off the ground, her fingers digging into the grated floor, not quite managing to stand up. She let out a low moan, lifting a shaking hand up to her head.

"Myra? Myra, look at me."

She managed to meet his eyes, her head still swaying. He put his hand on her cheek, gently, eyes searching out hers, "Are you okay?"

She paused, swallowed, and then nodded, slowly. He helped her to her feet, with her leaning heavily on his shoulder. Her eyes fell onto the console, and she froze. The pain intensified in her head and she grimaced, but it wasn't _nearly_ as bad as the first time. The console... she knew all the buttons, all the levers, their names, what they did, what they _never_ did, what they sometimes did but sometimes didn't, depending on whether they felt like it at the time.

She knew the deep scan, the Helmic Regulator, the stabiliser... she knew the circular blue button the Doctor had told her to hold down was the morphic warp-splice and it created a ghost molecular pattern to help prevent disintegration within the capsule, and the lever that he had been so keen to keep in place was the chromatic-neutro accelerator which kept their descent pattern in check, prevented them from going off course and landing in one of the suns.

"Myra?" he was looking at her, strangely. She didn't even glance at him. Her eyes were on the console. She took a few steps forwards, almost hypnotised by it.

"_Myra_. Myra, can you hear me?"

She shook her head, slowly, but not in denial. She reached out a shaky hand, and brushed it gently along the dashboard. She felt the soft hum as the time vortex called to her, the gentle song it let out, peaceful. The TARDIS was calling to her. Tears streamed down her face. It was so beautiful.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her hand stroking the metal again, soothing her.

The Doctor was looking at her, guardedly, "What."

She looked up at him, tears blurring her vision, doubling as she fixed onto his face, and she moved round the console, putting it between them, shaking her head, desperate for him to understand, "I'm so sorry."

He just looked at her, frowning. She paused, and then looked down, making her way instinctively around the controls. She flicked a few switches and then held down a lever, tapping a code on the keypad.

He took a step forwards, "Myra, what are you doing."

She just shook her head, tapping faster, knowing that she wouldn't fight him if he tried to stop her. He took another step and fire burned through her head once again. She let go of a lever, pressing her hand to her forehead, the other hand still typing.

"Myra -"

"Doctor. I'm so sorry."

She flicked a lever, taking her hand down from her head so she could touch-type, turning the monitor round to face her, "Prime internal defence."

He finally seemed to get what she was doing. His eyes widened and he started towards her, "Myra, _no_!"

"Activate!"

A shot of electricity burst from the controls, hitting the Doctor smack in the chest and throwing him back against the wall. Myra let go on the lever, immediately, and ran over to him. She put her hands on his shoulders and manoeuvred him back onto the floor. She hesitated, and then checked his pulse. Stable. He was breathing. Out cold. She watched him for a moment, and then shook her head, and slowly got back to her feet.

**Well done, Myra Hull.**

"Shut up." She said, quietly. Then she turned back to the TARDIS.

She walked back up to the controls, her hand once again tracing the metal, "Come on, girl. We've got a lot of work to do."

* * *


	17. Chapter 17: A Stolen Ship

_Mbea's Trickster __**nummer zeventien:**__ 'A Stolen Ship'. The TARDIS takes a journey over half a billion years into the past, and Myra reveals her biggest secret of all._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 17 - A Stolen Ship**

The Doctor stirred. He rolled his head painfully to one side, feeling a cold, grated floor below his cheek. He paused for a moment, frowning. Then his eyes shot open and he snapped himself upright - too fast. He stopped again, grimacing, the room spinning around him, "Oh, my _head_..."

At his voice Myra snapped her head round, looking at him. She hesitated, and then turned away again, going back to the TARDIS' controls.

"Myra?" he managed, his voice still pained, "Myra, what are you doing."

"I'm sorry." She said again, not even glancing at him, her whole concentration fixed on the console.

"Myra..." he paused, and then shook his head, roughly, pulling himself back together. He tried to get to his feet but something pulled on his wrists, keeping him back. He glanced over his shoulder. A thick piece of rope tied his wrists behind him to one of the coral pillars, keeping him firmly in place. He clenched his hands into fists, pulling tight against the restraint, testing its hold. It didn't budge.

Slowly, he returned his attention back to Myra, "Myra, listen to me."

The girl shook her head, distractedly, busy with the stabiliser. He looked at the controls, cautiously, trying to figure out what she was doing, "Right hand _down_."

"I know!" she replied, testily, forcing the warp drive back into place, stretching to reach the emboliser while keeping her hand on the lever.

"Where are we."

"In flight. I planned to just take a simple trip, just a straight course back in time, but apparently the Blockade was bigger back then, _much_ bigger, and we'd have ended up right in the centre of it." She flipped some switches he couldn't see, one hand holding onto the console as the ship buffeted around, "I didn't think that was an incredibly good idea, so we're going further out, further South, beyond its reach."

"You're going back to its creation, aren't you."

She paused, hands on the controls, and then looked at him, "Yes. I'm sorry."

"Why."

She hesitated again, and then shook her head, turning back to the console, "I have to. I'm sorry, but I _have_ to."

He shook his head, leaning towards her, almost desperately, "Myra, whatever it is, I can help. I can _help_ you, _let_ me _help_ you."

"No, Doctor. Because you _can_ help me. But you won't. I know you won't."

"Why. What are you going to do."

This time she ignored him completely, focussing on the task at hand. He looked at her, closely. She'd taken off the old-fashioned dress and was back in her vest and jeans, the Heliotrion scanner tied loosely round her neck by a piece of string. He could see his screwdriver in her left pocket. Her eyes and cheeks were wet with tears, and her hand shook as she tried to set in the descent pattern.

But it was _more_ than that. Something was wrong.

Suddenly, Myra seized up, her hands clutching hold of her head, doubling over.

His eyes widened, "Myra? _Myra_?"

She straightened up, painfully, paused, gathering herself, and then pulled herself together, quickly flicking some switches, holding down the drive again.

"Myra, what... what was that?" he asked, slowly.

She paused, licking her lips, subconsciously, and then glanced at him, "It's the TARDIS. I was never supposed to know how to work it, things like this... aren't supposed to happen."

"Then how..." he paused, looking at her, realisation spreading over him, "The anthromorph. He put it in your head."

"Yeah. And now it's burning through me." She paused, leaning on the console for a moment, drawing in deep, slow breaths, "I only got the TARDIS. Anything more and it would have burnt through me much faster than this. But I can cope with the TARDIS." She shot him a small, watery smile, "Just."

He shook his head, immediately, "Myra, this is gunna kill you. Let me go, c'mon, let me help. Wherever we're going, whatever's going to happen, you don't need to tell me, just _let me __**help **__you_, _Myra_."

"No. I can't."

"Why not."

She looked at the ceiling for a while, and then transferred her gaze back to him, tears trickling down her face, "Because I want this to be _my_ responsibility, Doctor. Not yours. I'm sorry."

"Just... just why don't you just... _explain_ it to me." He urged, gently, "Come on. Just... tell me what's going on."

She paused, and then shook her head, flipping the handbrake into place. The TARDIS came to a sudden stop, and she quickly turned to the monitor, her eyes moving over it, carefully, "We're here. Just outside the Lost Sphere, nine hundred million years in the past. We made it."

"Myra. Myra, _please_ wait."

She stopped, halfway to the door, and looked at him. Then she shook her head, and walked back up the ramp, settling down on the floor beside him.

She paused a second, thinking, and then moved her eyes up to the rotor, "You know what, when Faye first told me she was pregnant, I laughed. I really did. I couldn't _believe_ it. Strangely enough, she didn't see the funny side. She was only eighteen. She wasn't even _with_ anyone, not _properly_, she was sort of seeing this guy called Bradley at the time, but, of course, as soon as she told him, _he_ didn't want to know."

She paused, and then gave a small laugh, "Mum and dad went _mental_! Absolutely _mental_! I've never _seen_ them so angry." She shook her head, slowly, her smile fading, "But Faye wanted to keep it. She _insisted_. I'd never seen the appeal in kids, myself, they're just like tiny, bald dogs, and just as loud, messy and needy. But that girl..." she closed her eyes, tears moving down her cheeks again, "_Oh_, that girl..."

She stopped, and then looked at him, seriously, "I'd die for her, Doctor. She's not even mine, she's not even... but I'd die for her. You understand that, don't you?"

He paused, looking at her, his words caught in his throat, "Yeah. Yeah, I understand that."

"Then you know I have to do it. I'm sorry. But seeing him _look_ at her, just _look_ at her... Hearing him say her name... I couldn't do it, Doctor. I can't watch him do it, I can't." He looked at her, silently, and she shook her head, getting sharply to her feet, turning her back, her voice frustrated, angry, but, most of all, scared: "I just, I just _can't_, I can't do it, okay, I... _can't_."

"I know." He replied, quietly, "I _know_, Myra."

"I can't leave Maddie there, Doctor."

"I know." He looked up at her for a second, and then frowned, "Maddie... she's the girl I saw in your head."

She retreated back to the pillar and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall, "I dunno. Maybe, yeah."

"'Bout three years old, blue eyes, brown curly hair."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's her."

"She looks like you."

She didn't reply. He paused, looking at her. Then he made up his mind and shook his head, "Untie me."

"Why would I do that."

"Because I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure your niece is safe." She let her head back down, looking at him, and he gave a small, gentle smile, "Trust me."

She hesitated, looking down at him, eyes fixed on his, as if trying to read him. Then she nodded, slowly, and crouched down beside him. She paused, and then pulled a penknife out her pocket, cutting the ropes. She got to her feet and watched him for a moment.

The Doctor pulled his hands back round and looked at his wrists, thoughtfully, "For a UNIT officer you didn't tie these very tight."

She held out a hand, and helped him to his feet, "I'm not UNIT. And I... I didn't want to hurt you."

He looked at her, a small smile playing around his lips. She didn't want to hurt him. She'd set the interior defence against him but she wouldn't tie the ropes too tight... This was an interesting one, no lie...

He brushed off his clothes, felt out the back of his head where he had connected with the floor and then looked at her, "Who _are_ you, then?"

She hesitated, looking at him, and then shook her head, grabbing his jacket from the pillar and pulling it over her. She glanced at him, automatically, "D'you mind?" He raised his eyebrows but shook his head, gesturing to her to feel free, and she managed a small smile, dragging it further over her shoulders and then heading for the door, "I'll explain everything on the way. I promise. Come on."

* * *

"I'm not just from a different time, Doctor. I'm from a different world."

The Doctor nodded, thoughtfully, "Yes, I thought so. But you're _human_. And you said you were from 2009, the Earth barely has interstellar _contact_ at that point. So where are you from?"

"No. Earth has no interstellar contact whatsoever, most humans don't even _believe_ in aliens."

He frowned, "What are you talking about? _Still_? The Slitheen spaceship, the Sycorax, the Cybermen, the _Daleks_, the Racnoss, the _Titanic_! Seriously, what does it have to _be_ for you lot to call it _contact_?"

Myra hesitated. She had known this was going to be difficult to explain... The box around her neck stopped beeping, and she hit it into the palm of her hand until it continued, and started walking again. Then she moved her attention back to him and shook her head, "Look, on my world... none of that ever _happened_."

He looked at her, "What d'you mean?"

"I'm from... well, I _think_ I'm from... a parallel world."

He raised an eyebrow, and she could see the scepticism in his eyes, "A parallel world."

"I'm pretty sure, yeah."

He shook his head, "That's impossible."

"No. It's just a bit unlikely."

"A _parallel world_."

"I know how it sounds, Doctor!" she hesitated, and then shook her head, "Believe me, I know it more than anyone. But... I can't think of any other explanation for what's going on here."

"What _is_ going on here?"

She looked at him for a second, and then shook her head, "You'll think I'm crazy."

He smiled, "Try me."

"It's nuts. All of it, all of this... it's just crazy."

"Welcome to my world." He smiled again and gave her a playful chuck on the arm, leaning down to her level, "If there's anyone you can trust to believe you, Myra, it's me. So go on. Tell me."

She looked at him for a second, thinking, and then nodded, slowly. "Right. Okay. Here goes nothing..." she took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. She kept her eyes on the sand in front of them, keeping their pace, "The reason I think I'm from a parallel world... is because you're the Doctor. And the Doctor... the Doctor isn't real."

He frowned again, smiling slightly, curiously, "What d'you mean?"

"I'm not UNIT. I'm not a friend of Martha Jones. I don't know Donna Noble, and I've never met Sarah Jane Smith. Or Ace. Or Nyssa. Or any of the others. As far as I can tell, no spaceships have ever truly landed on my world, human beings are the only known source of semi-intelligent life in the galaxy, and there never _was_ any _Time_ War." She turned to him, stopping in her tracks, "Doctor, I'm an _administrative supervisor_ at _Spar_, a tiny little shop about twenty minutes walk away from my house, nothing special has ever happened to me before the car crash. Then I wake up in a hospital bed with no memory of anything that happened and... _you_. A guy that I see pretty much every day."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, not in _person_, of course." She looked at him, and he looked straight back, his expression completely confused. She sighed, and shook her head, "Look. In my world, your real name is David Tennant. Actually, David _McDonald_, if you want to be precise. You're an actor, a Scottish actor, born in Bathgate, 1971. Martha Jones was played by Freema Agyeman, Rose Tyler by Billie Piper." She looked at him again, "Do you understand what I'm saying, Doctor."

He looked at her for a second. He was trying, she could see that, trying very hard, but what she was saying made even less sense than the whole day had, "You're saying... that in your world... I'm... a _character_... in a film?"

"TV series." She corrected, quietly, "But, other than that, yeah."

He stared at her, and then nodded, slowly, "Okay. Alright, I'm... I'm willing to believe that. So... you know me as... _David Tennant._"

"Yeah."

"What a weird name."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh, says _'the Doctor'_."

He gave a small smile, and then it left. He was still watching her, strangely. She shook her head, wearily, "You know what, _forget_ it, don't worry about it..."

"No, no, I'm..." he paused, and then gave a small laugh, "I'm trying here, Myra."

"I know."

"So... this... _TV series..._ thing... what's it called?"

She looked at him, "It's called Doctor Who."

The Doctor nodded, thoughtfully, "Doctor Who... I like it. Nice pun. And... aliens don't _exist_ in your world?"

"Well, as far as we know, yeah. I mean, there's been UFO sightings and lights in the sky, and people being abducted and selling their stories to The Sun, but apart from that... no real proof."

"What, _nothing_? No... asteroids... meteorites... spaceship crashes?"

"Nope. Well, some people _think_ there are, of course, think that it's all one huge government conspiracy, but _normal_ people... not so much."

He paused, looking at her, frowning, and then shook his head, "But I'm still the Doctor."

"Yeah. Main character. Well, David Tennant's only been the actor for the past few years, since late 2005, you took over from Christopher Eccleston."

"Christopher _who_?"

"Your prior regeneration. He was played by Christopher Eccleston."

He ran a hand through his hair, "_Right_. Blimey. Okay. So... all of it... all my life... to _you_, I mean... was all... fake?"

She winced, apologetically, "Yeah. Kinda."

He nodded, and then let out a low whistle, "Wow. Okay. And... you watch it?"

She gave a small, awkward shrug, "Well, yeah." She waited a beat, and then let out a nervous laugh, "Quite religiously in fact."

"Oh, so you're a _science geek_!"

She laughed, genuinely this time, amused by the vaguely absurd comparison, "Geek's... not the word I'd choose myself."

"Really? What would you call yourself, then?"

She smiled, shaking her head, "Well, I prefer the word 'fanatic'."

"_Really_..."

She laughed again, "Well, I suppose you could say science-_fiction_ geek. Doctor Who, X-Files, Star Wars, MTFBWY... yep, that's me."

"MTFBWY?"

"Don't... ask. But, yeah. Doctor Who's a science-fiction. Emphasis on _fiction_. You don't exist. I mean -" she added, hastily, clocking the raised eyebrow, "- you don't exist in _my_ world. _Obviously_ you exist in your own, or... well, you wouldn't _be_ here."

"So that's how you know so much about it. About the TARDIS, about Martha, about _me_... You're a... _science-fiction geek_..."

She nodded, "Yeah. My mum set me on the old series when I was ten, got into the new series when they started."

"Right. Okay. So. _Doctor Who_... Is it popular?"

"Doctor Who? Aw, you're kidding, it's probably the most watched program in the world. Everyone recognises the Doctor. The Doctor in the TARDIS." She looked at him, perceptively, "Makes a change, doesn't it?"

"This is insane."

She nodded, giving a small, grim smile and continuing walking, following the beeping, "I told you."

"But... if I'm gunna believe this... if I'm gunna believe that you're from a parallel world... how did you _get_ here, travel between parallel dimensions is _impossible_."

"Well, we all know _that's_ not true, you've done it so many times yourself. But I've been thinking about it, and you said this Binary Nexus thing only consumes physical objects - I'm assuming that doesn't mean time."

"Yeah."

"So it absorbs and consumes everything else, but who says it doesn't _absorb_ _non-_physical things, just not _consume_ them? Breaking through the core of the Blockade took so much power and you had to fight to keep the chromatic-neutro accelerator in place."  
She caught his eyes, quickly, "And, did you see, just for a moment, the Zeiton-7 levels went hazardous, like... like there was something _pulling_ at them, _draining_ them, like, I don't know, two identical particles magnetised, like with Huon energy? The Zeiton must have activated, found an identical set of particles and attracted to each other, like a reverse polar shift, causing an extrinsic disintegration and hyperpolary of -"

She gasped and doubled over, pain burning through her. Her breaths came in sharp, shallow gasps, and her head felt like it was splitting. She felt the Doctor's arm around her shoulders, easing her back upright, "Alright, alright, I've got you."

"It's getting stronger." She managed, weakly, painfully. She paused for a second, gathering herself, and then straightened up, moving onwards, determinedly, "We've got to keep moving."

"I could take it out of you."

"_No_." she paused, looking at him for a moment, and then shook her head, "You can't. Not without taking my memories and I'm not having that, okay?" she shook her head again, firmly, "I'm fine, I can live with it."

"It's gunna tear you apart."

"No. No, it's not." She looked up at him, simply, "Because I won't let it."

He shook his head, slowly, "It doesn't work like that."

"We'll see. Because I'm very stubborn when I need to be, Doctor. And my mind isn't easily changed. No-one has been able to change it yet, and I'm sure as _hell_ not gunna let some absorbing alien from _Mbea_ do it for me. I can keep it at bay."

"Bet your life?"

She smiled, softly, "For this... yes." She looked around her for a moment, and then back to him, frowning, "Why is this planet so hot?"

"It _was_ _hotter_. This place used to have _three_ stars."

"_Three_?"

"Yep. More than a billion years ago. But the first died, burned up."

"Shouldn't Mbea have died with it?"

"Yes, theoretically. But it survived."

"Why?"

He shook his head, "No-one knows. No-one can remember back that far."

"Not even you?"

"Haven't been. Mbea's a new planet for me too."

"Hmm. Okay. Something to think about. Now." She glanced down at the box and then back up to the horizon, narrowing her eyes against the sunlight. She raised a hand, pointing at a small silhouette some way away, "There. Do you see it?"

He frowned, looking where she pointed, "Yeah... yes, I do... What is it, do you think?"

She paused for a moment, watching it, and then shook her head, slowly, "It's a group of scientists with a Baytron radiation scanner, come to measure the Blockade. This is it." She looked back at him, grabbing hold of his hand, "Come on."

"What are you going to do."

She glanced at him again, and gave a small, grim smile, "Improvise."

* * *


	18. Chapter 18: Ylatail

_Mbea's Trickster __**chương mười tám**__**:**__ 'Ylatail'. Myra meets her first alien life, and they turn out to be almost too alien for her to cope with._

_Disclaimer - Doctor Who = not mine :(_

* * *

**Chapter 18 - Ylatail**

"Hello!"

The scientists turned to them, sharply, and then immediately pulled out guns, taking aim.

Myra held up her hands, immediately, her heart missing a few beats, "Whoa, whoa, _whoa_, now just hold on a minute!"

They didn't fire. She felt her breathing catch in her chest, but forced her voice to stay calm. She looked at them, raising her eyebrows, not quite condescendingly, "Now _that's_ no way to greet someone, _is_ it."

They just looked at her. They seemed surprised. Perfectly understandable seeing as two humans had just appeared out of nowhere on a planet where humans couldn't exist, and speaking whatever language _they_ spoke. Whatever she had just said, she knew it wasn't Earth English; it was the TARDIS translation circuits getting in her head. She kept her smile, her eyes quickly moving over their faces. They were most definitely aliens. But humanoid, _very_ humanoid, close enough for her to have to look twice.

The nearest female's skin was coloured a deep shade of olive and her purple eyes sung out beneath long, black lashes. She had cat-eye pupils. Her mahogany hair was parted exactly in the middle and had been placed neatly into two plaits either side of her head. She had smoothed her hair on either side, leaving room for her small, blunt horns to emerge from her scalp.

"What are they." Myra asked, quietly, too quietly for them to hear.

"Ylatail."

She nodded, slowly. Apart from the youngest who had eyes of sparkling blue, they all looked very much the same, all wearing identical tan clothing - perfect for this desert planet - with thin, dark scarves covering their heads and long, brown trench coats not unlike the one she was wearing now.

Myra looked down at herself, slowly, and then back up to the scientists again. They were staring at her, them too looking her up and down. She clocked them, raising her eyebrow again, and then gave a small smile, "Yeah. Snap. Now. I'm Myra, Myra Hull. Who are you and why are you pointing guns at me."

The woman looked at her, and then took a step forwards, her grip still firm on her gun, "Myra Hull."

She smiled, giving a small wave, "Hello."

"Who... What are you _doing_ here?"

"I'm sorry, I don't answer questions of people who hold guns to my face."

She paused, and then nodded, slowly, and lowered her gun, pushing it back in a holster on her belt, gesturing to the other behind her to do the same.

Myra let out a long breath, shaking slightly, "Well. First time I've had a _gun_ pointed to my head, _that_ was new. Think I handled it quite well, don't you?"

"_What are you __**doing**__ here_."

"Your name?"

She hesitated, looking at her, and then nodded, "Zita. Zita Mar-Cesh."

"Zita Mar-Cesh. Nice. And...?" she raised her eyebrows, nodding at the four behind her.

"Twilla." The other woman answered, giving a nod, probably her equivalent of a smile.

"And Crystal." The one with the sapphire eyes answered, giving a nice, sweet smile, and then gesturing to the two men, "And these are Enoch and Colby."

"_Right_, okay then." She stopped, looking at Zita, frowning. The woman had raised her eyebrows, and was glancing pointedly behind her. Myra paused, and then glanced over her shoulder. She was staring at the Doctor.

Myra turned to him, confused. He'd been unusually quiet, _amazingly_ quiet. Hadn't even introduced himself. She gestured to him, encouragingly, but he just gave a small shake of his head, warningly, keeping back, his eyes flickering onto the scientists. She hesitated, and then turned back, a smooth smile moving back onto her face, "And this is the Doctor. He's my designated driver."

"You let him pilot?" she frowned, but Zita just continued, looking her up and down: "What are you? How... how do you _breathe_, you're not... you haven't got..."

The Doctor apparently couldn't stop himself: "A metabiological respiratory system, no, we haven't."

It seemed he'd said something wrong, for the whole company immediately fixed him with a glare. He seemed to recognise his mistake, and instantly took a step back, nodding, his eyes fixed on the floor. Myra just looked at him, shocked and confused, and then moved her eyes back to the woman, "The TARDIS protects us, our ship, it's got hermetic shielding, creates its own atmospheric shell to protect us."

"Your ship?" she glanced over her shoulder, squinting against the sun, "You mean... _that_?"

"Yeah."

"It's a box."

"The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental."

"And just what does _that_ mean... _Miss Hull_."

"Call me Myra. And it means it's bigger on the inside."

"How _much_ bigger."

She smiled, slowly, "Well... it's not _infinite_... but it's pretty close."

"And you travel with this?" she asked, nodding at the Doctor.

"_This_?" she repeated, sceptically, "Right, okay, sorry, gotta stop you there, I'm afraid." She glanced from the scientists to the Doctor, looking for some clue as to what was going on, and then, when he gave her nothing, she turned her attention back to Zita, "Forgive me, I'm human, so I haven't got a clue, but... why isn't he allowed to speak?"

Zita looked at her, genuinely surprised, "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, casually, "I mean what I said." She looked thoughtfully over the scientist's shoulder, frowning at Enoch and Colby, "_They're_ not allowed to speak, either, are they? So it's, what, a... matriarchal thing?

The woman paused, and then glanced at Twilla, frowning, just as confused as she was. She raised an eyebrow, and Twilla winked, "Cultural differences."

"Excuse me?" she asked, looking at them. They didn't elaborate, and she shook her head, "You don't let them speak. They're not expected to introduce themselves. You don't let them pilot. Why not?"

"But that's how it's _always_ been." Crystal replied, earnestly, and, despite the fact that she was obviously talking complete rubbish, Myra warmed to the fact that she was at least _trying_ to answer her questions, "They have to be given _permission_ to speak."

She raised an eyebrow, "What, but just males. _You_ guys don't have to have permission."

The girl looked at her, uneasily, "Well, of _course_ we don't. Why _would_ we?"

"So... they're not allowed to talk... because they're _male_, or is there any other reason?"

Zita shot a look at her, frowning, "Why would we _need_ another reason?"

"He has to be given permission to speak." Crystal repeated, nodding at the Doctor, "That's how it works here, Miss Hull. Or he's not allowed."

"_Myra_. And surely... that's up to _him_... isn't it?"

"No, it's up to _you_."

"_Me_, why _me_?"

She smiled, "Well, because he's _yours_."

"_Mine_, he's not..." she stopped, shaking her head, and then looked back over her shoulder again. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her, and that was the confirmation she needed - he had known this right from the start. She looked back at Crystal, "You mean _I_ have to give him permission to speak?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry, again - Earth girl - but... _why_?"

Twilla looked at her, strangely, "There's cultural differences and there's complete ignorance, Miss Hull. How do you not know all this?"

Myra smiled, pleasantly, "Look at me, I'm stupid. So?"

She paused, and then shook her head, "You just _do_, that's how it is - that's how it's _always_ been."

She looked at them for a second, steadily getting more and more angry, "Okay. Alright." she turned around, frustrated, "Then you officially have permission to say whatever the hell you _want_ to say, now _get_ over here!" she grabbed the Doctor by the wrist and dragged him over to her side.

He glanced at her, smiling, "Thankyou."

She smiled back, "Well, I could see how much of a torture it was for you not being able to speak."

He smiled, raising his eyebrows, "Well, thankyou very _much_... _Miss Hull_."

"Shut up." Then she looked back at the scientists and then to the machine behind them, "Now. What are _you_ lot doing up here, 'cause to _me_ that looks like a micro phenol formaldehyde data parallelism scan." Twilla raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, casually, "We've got one in the TARDIS. Well, a mark _six_. _Far_ more advanced. But it's powered by Baytron radiation spikes, yeah?"

"Yes." Zita replied, uneasily, "We're going to scan the Aperture."

"Aperture?"

"The Blockade." The Doctor translated, quietly, looking at them, suddenly serious, "So you've created this... this high-tech scanner... to scan the Blockade."

No-one replied, until Crystal took pity on him: "Yes."

"Why."

She shook her head, "Apart from the fact that it's a big round hole in space? We've been getting weird energy readings off it for years, energy pulses."

Myra frowned, "Well, that's to be expected, isn't it? The Blockade has been sucking in things for years and _years_, surely there's going to be stray signals."

"Yeah, but this is different, Miss Hull. We're picking up a rating of eleven point six on the Puainer scale."

The Doctor straightened up, suddenly paying full attention, "But that's impossible."

"Absolutely impossible." Myra echoed, frowning.

"Exactly." Twilla replied.

She glanced up at him, quickly, "But how... how are we even..."

"We should be dead." He said, slowly, "Even the TARDIS' atmospheric shell wouldn't hold under that much pressure. Unless..."

"Unless the Blockade has got hermetic shielding of its _own_. But where would it have got _that_ from?"

"Something it consumed? That would explain the Zeiton-7, as well."

"Possible... But that's what I was trying to say, Doctor. I got here _some_how." She looked up at the Nexus, barely visible against the horizon, uneasily, "And that thing's creating on hell of a lot of power, and it's all going _some_where. I think... I came through _that_."

He looked at her frowning, "How?"

"A rift in time."

* * *

Myra turned her head, sharply, and raised her eyebrows, "What makes you think that?"

Colby hesitated, immediately seeing his mistake, and glanced at Twilla. She nodded, gesturing to him, and he turned back, "The energy readings. It wasn't just the Puainer scale, it wasn't just our scans."

"That's enough of that." Zita said, immediately, raising her eyebrows, warningly.

"They deserve to know, if Miss Hull's been -"

"Colby, I said that's enough."

Myra looked back and forth between them, "Oh, 'ello. What's going on here?"

He paused, looking at her, and then tried again, "But the Aperture, Miss Zita. Waylon said -"

"_Rumours_, Colby." She replied, firmly, "This lady doesn't need rumours."

"Oh, no, I _love_ rumours. Go ahead, Colby, what were you saying? Waylon said...?"

"You don't need to hear -"

"Oh, I think I do." She took a step forwards, locking her eyes onto Colby, completely ignoring the others, "Colby? Who's this Waylon. What's been going on that I don't know about."

He hesitated, glancing at his friends, and then shook his head, "Miss Zita's right, they're just rumours, nothing founded, just... just stories."

She smiled, gently, "Then tell me the stories."

The young scientist just shook his head, slowly.

"Waylon's a madman."

Myra turned, and Crystal looked at her, nervously, her bright blue eyes sparkling with a strange mix of concern and determination, "He's lived close to the Aperture for too long. He's... he's completely lost it."

"Why." The Doctor asked, almost sharply.

"Crystal..." Twilla warned, slowly.

"About seven years ago he left the village, left everything behind, became homeless, jobless, _life_less."

"_Crystal_."

"Then he reappeared, about a year back, in this little hovel out near the Aperture."

"_Crystal_!"

The girl looked at her, an unusual spark of anger flaring up in her, "They _deserve_ to _know_, Twilla!"

"_Why_? Who _are_ these people, who _are_ _they_?" she turned on them, anger burning in her too, "Who _are_ you?"

Myra didn't even glance at her, instead going into the trench coat's pocket and pulling out a thin black wallet. She opened it with a twist of her wrist and showed it to her, her eyes still on the girl, "Myra Hull and the Doctor, representatives of the Shadow Proclamation, so I think it would be good for you to keep _back_..." she glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, "..._**ma'am**_."

Twilla paused, her eyes moving down to the paper, "Shadow Proclamation."

"Yep."

"Which section? Who do you represent?"

She hesitated for less than a second, moving her forest green eyes back onto their sparkling blue opposites, "U'Atsuramor, does it matter? Now, Crystal. Go on. Waylon, living in a little hovel out near the Aperture."

The girl paused, and then nodded, "That's right."

"Any idea why he did it?" The Doctor asked, frowning at her, seriously.

She shrugged, "Not a clue. He went mad." She looked up, narrowing her eyes against the sun, looking at the horizon, nodding at it, as if she could see something on the seemingly never-ending carpet of sand, "He lives about eighteen sentari away."

"Two hundred miles." He translated, quietly, seeing Myra's raised eyebrow, and then glancing back at the scientist, "But isn't that, isn't that in range of the Blockade?"

"Yes. He comes to the village every five days for provisions and then goes back home. A home he made himself, a home inside the reach of the Aperture."

"And without being sucked in..." he paused for a moment, looking around him, glancing where Crystal had looked, "Now that's clever... Know how he does it?"

"No. _None_ of us do."

"And what else?" Myra pressed, gently, "What has he seen?"

"Sometimes... he says..." she paused, and then shook her head, immediately, "It's... impossible."

"I like impossible."

"No, it's... it's... just stories."

"Go on, it's fine." The girl didn't reply didn't reply, and she leant towards her, urgently, "Crystal, you've _got_ to _tell_ me, _what's going __**on**_."

"He says he's seen _people_."

Myra paused, looking at her, "He what."

"He says he's seen _people_. Animals. _Living things_, in the middle of the Aperture."

The Doctor shook his head, "That's impossible, nothing could live inside there, it'd be sucked in, and with the pressure it'd be reduced to dust."

"I _told_ you, didn't I?"

Myra shook her head, putting a hand on the girl's arm, "What _else_ does he say?"

She shook her head, "He says he sees... _such_ things, Miss Hull. Stars, planets... things that happened a million miles from here, and a million _years_. Things not of this time. Events that occurred galaxies away - and past, present, future."

"I've seen it." The Doctor said, quietly, his voice a low monotone, his eyes dark, "All of time and space. All of existence."

Myra glanced at him, frowning, "Who said _that_?"

He looked at her, "_Think_ about it, Myra. The whole of time and space. Seeing the pure power of the universe. All that was. All that is. All that ever could be."

She looked at him, realisation slowly passing over her, "What is, what was... what could be, what must not."

"The time vortex."

Myra shook her head, slowly, her heart beating faster, catching, her breathing harsh. "Oh, of _course_... Of course of course of _course_! _Doctor_?! _Could_ it?"

"Could it what?"

She shook her head, ignoring him, pacing back and forwards, letting herself think it through, relishing the realisation burning over her, "_Oh_, it's so _obvious_! The Heliotrion particles, the, the... unusual _energy_ readings, the _osmosis_, the _anthromorph_ - hold on, hold on, think it through - it's not coincidence! Of _course_ it's not coincidence, they're all _connected_!"

The Doctor looked at her, catching very quickly onto her train of thought, "The Heliotrion particles."

"Yes."

"The hermetic shielding."

"_Oh_ yes!"

"The Zeiton-7."

"Only found on a few very sparse planets, used for powering certain ships, can be used to _break_ open that time vortex and pour it into someone's soul, letting them see everything, _every_thing!" she looked at him for a second, "Doctor. The Blockade. We never thought about why it was created. _How_ it was created. What it truly was."

"A Binary Nexus."

"Yes, but created by _what_?"

"Introverted particles, a subsumption of different cells, imploding atoms, mutating echoes."

"Then how did I get here. Another thing we never figured out. Travel between parallel worlds is impossible, how did the anthromorph manage to _get_ me here, _how did he do that_?!" she looked at him, a triumphant smile growing on her face, her breathing shallow, "It's not just a hole, Doctor. There's something inside that breach. Something buried right at the heart, right down in the core, something consumed over a billion years before the anthromorph even _existed_."

"Like what?"

She looked at him, almost panting, shaking slightly, "A TARDIS."

The Doctor's gaze locked onto Myra, his eyes widening. Then she collapsed.

* * *


	19. Chapter 19: Untempered Schism

_Mbea's Trickster __**capítulo diecinueve:**__ 'Untempered Schism'. The Doctor is once again informed that the truth is sometimes not all that easy to accept, and Myra learns that there are other ways of getting through to a Time Lord._

_Disclaimer - Doctor Who = not mine :(_

* * *

**Chapter 19 -****Untempered Schism**

The Doctor caught her, immediately, his arm supporting her head, "Myra, it's okay, I've got you."

Myra gasped, pulling herself back to her feet. The arms stayed taught, still supporting her, and she clung onto them, her breathing tight, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, "Doctor."

"I'm here, you're okay. Breath through it with me, okay Myra?"

She gritted her teeth, forcing her air in and out, pain cutting through her lungs at every breath. She could feel the feverish pump of her heart in her head, loud like a drum, spreading pain straight through her. She forced herself back into the world, forced herself to ignore the pain, and managed to look at him, "We haven't got much time."

He nodded, slowly, "I know." He continued watching her until she could stand by herself, and, even then, kept his hands on her shoulders, warily.

"Miss Hull?" Crystal asked, her eyes moving over them, frowning, concerned, cautious, "What's wrong?"

"I absorbed the TARDIS. In a human it's fatal."

She raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding, "You absorbed... your _ship_?"

"It's not just a ship. It's a living organism."

"And there's... a TARDIS inside the Aperture?"

The Doctor shook his head, almost angrily, "There's only one TARDIS left in existence, and that one's mine."

Myra looked at him, defiantly, "The Master had a TARDIS."

"Died in the War."

"What about Iris - Iris Wildthyme had a TARDIS."

"A London double-decker bus, the Number 22 to Putney Common."

"And the Monk's?"

He looked at her, anger and warning burning in his eyes, "A dusty, old, Police Box... on a street corner... useless."

"It's _not impossible_."

"But it might as _well_ be."

She shook her head, firmly, "_Why_? Why is it so unlikely to you? The chromatic-neutro accelerator, the Heliotrion particles, the Blockade's hermetic shielding, the pull of the Zeiton-7, it's just _screaming_ at you!" he shook his head, scathingly, and she paused, thinking, and then tried again: "If a TARDIS crash-landed into a planet as hot as this, what would happen. Maybe nothing. Maybe it would just die. Or maybe something _else_ would happen."

"Like what." His voice was getting cold.

She thought for a second, and she started to feel the stabs of pain she knew were from the effort of keeping the TT-capsule contained in her head, "Like maybe the crash fused the shielding. Maybe the centre console was ripped apart and the Zeiton-7 escaped. Like maybe the time vortex poured out of the craft and the Blockade absorbed it."

"_Nothing_ can absorb the time vortex."

"No. But it can get a glimpse of it. An echo. And an echo sealed in its own hermetic shielding..." his eyes widened very slightly, and she nodded, "A gap in space and time. A hole. An Untempered Schism. A Blockade. You said a star died here. You said the planet should have been consumed, but it wasn't. Why. Because the hermetic shielding kept it in."

He just looked at her, emotionlessly, and she shook her head, frustrated, "_Listen_ to me, Doctor. The Time War went on for years, _decades_, how can you be sure that no TARDIS crashed here? That no Time Lord ever came here?"

"_Stop_ it."

She flinched back, the sharpness of his voice easily cutting through her. She knew she had overstepped the mark. The Doctor paused, looking at her, seeing how he had affected her. He obviously regretted the words now, but he knew that the damage was done, and just shook his head, slowly.

Myra didn't need an apology; the look in his eyes did all that for her, the hurt and anger, the pity and guilt.

She paused, her eyes moving over him, coldly, thinking, not offering him forgiveness because, for the moment, she didn't feel he deserved it. Then she realised something, realised how she could get through to him, simply by learning from him.

She took a step back, and nodded, "Okay." He frowned at her, cautiously, silently, and she raised an eyebrow, nodding again, "Okay. That's fine. Stupid idea really. A Binary Nexus built on a TARDIS." He looked at her, and she shook her head, expectantly, "Well, I mean it doesn't make sense. _Does_ it."

She gave him a moment to think about it, and then shook her head, turning, "Anyway. We better get moving. We haven't got much time."

"The sooner we get you back to your world the better." He agreed, nodding.

Those words had their impact too. But she chose to ignore them, chose to save time. "Then let's get moving." She turned back to Zita, who seemed to be the most mechanical of the group, "Your scanner, your data parallelism scan, what protocols does it have? All the standard? Restoration, maintenance, basic defence... iatric protocols?"

"Yeah, it's fully op'ed, all down to specifications." She waited a beat, looking at her, "All according to _Galactic Law_..."

Myra shot her a sarcastic smile, "Good good. Now. Iatric protocols. What has it got, a hardwired defence system?"

"Yes."

"Programmed to protect organics?"

"Yes."

"Onboard medical devices?"

"Yes."

She paused for a second, her heart beating fast in her chest, "Nanogenes?" She caught the Doctor's frown, but didn't acknowledge it.

The woman frowned too, "Nanogenes?"

"Nanobots? Subtarors? Sub-atomic robots, healers. Capable of fixing superficial wounds, standard technology."

"Oh, yes, of course. Malsatels, Miss Hull, we call them Malsatels."

"Same thing, different name..." Myra paused, and then nodded, slowly, thoughtfully, "Right. Okay. Well. That makes sense, of course."

"Myra...?" The Doctor asked, quietly.

"But Malsatels would still react in the same way nanogenes would, yes?"

Twilla frowned, "I'd assume so, Miss Hull, they've got a basic protonic hemosolution transstabilised system."

"_Hemosolution_, never heard of it."

"PHTS, it's just... well... like..." she paused, thinking about it, and then shook her head, frustrated, and started again: "The data parallelism scan is linked in continuum with the main core, the Baytron radiation pale. Nothing can exist in there, the radiation's too strong. For the Malsatels to exist they need to be locked away in a temporal pocket."

"So if the temporal pocket fails... the casing opens and the Malsatels fall into the radiation, get disintegrated."

"Yep. If it stalls. We've run our tests, simulations, and it'd take eighteen seconds, but there would be nothing we could do to reverse it. They may be sub-atomic but they can still melt."

"But isn't that what's going to happen when you put it into the Aperture?"

"Yeah, but the delay will keep them out of the mix. That's why we put the Malsatels so close to the radiation; we don't want anything mixing up our results. As soon as the Aperture absorbs the scanner the Malsatels get dissolved."

She nodded, thoughtfully, her eyes moving off her and onto the sand, "So it'd have to open _before_..."

"What?"

She paused, and then looked up, suddenly, "Nothing. Nothing, don't worry about it."

But the Doctor was still frowning at her. He was working it out, in his magnificently fast way, and it wouldn't be long before he knew completely what she was up to.

She looked at him, almost challengingly, daring him to figure it out. He didn't say a word, just stared at her, and, after a moment, she turned her attention back to Twilla, "But a _temporal pocket_? How can you have that sort of technology, that's _impossible_!" she glanced back up at the Doctor, frowning, lowering her voice, "Nine hundred million years in the past?"

"The Ylatail are advanced, _highly_ advanced, _far_ more than humankind."

"Hey!"

He gave a small shrug, frowning at her, "Well it's not _my_ fault you lot are a bit slow on the uptake."

She shook her head, now completely ignoring the small group in front of them, "What _are_ the Ylatail, anyway."

He shrugged again, his attention too fixed only on her, "Humanoid race - well, _anthropoid_, semi-human, human-ish - y'know, the usual, bilateral, bipedal, mammal. Except Ylatail are usually - no offence - _far_ more clever than you."

"I'm making an _effort_ not to be offended..." She said, rolling her eyes.

"They started out on the planet Colaidani, worked their way around this galaxy. There's Ylatail all _over_ the Sarian System, every planet, more or less..."

"And we _can_ hear you," Twilla said, stonily, "_Miss_ Hull."

Myra turned to her, quickly, "It's _Myra_. But this scanner... are you placing it now?"

She paused, glancing at Zita, and then nodded, slowly, "Yeah."

"Mind if I hang around? You know, Shadow Proclamation prerogative, and all that?"

"Go ahead. As long as you don't get in the way."

She nodded, mockingly serious, "Oh, you won't even know I'm here."

The scientist shook her head, wearily, "Oh, Miss Hull, I sincerely doubt _that_..."

Myra couldn't help but smile. This was a woman after her own heart. Twilla paused for a moment and then turned back to the scanner, "Right, come on, we've got work to do. Let's get this thing into the Aperture."

The scientists moved, getting behind the big, wheeled machine and pushing it onwards towards the Blockade. She surveyed them for a moment, her eyes moving over them. How far had they pushed this dead weight? Five miles? Ten? Through this heat? Sure, they must be used to it, they _lived_ here, but no shelter, no shade, pushing a great big box like that?

Myra shook her head, a small smile on her lips, and walked round to the back, "Crystal, you take a break, let _me_."

Crystal shook her head, immediately, "I'm fine."

"Oh, cut it out, how old are you, seventeen?" the two women looked at each other, and then Myra gave a small, encouraging smile, "I've got this. Go on. Anyway, I'd feel like a layabout if I didn't help, come on, I'm stronger than I look."

The girl hesitated, and then nodded, moving back from the machine and letting her take hold. Myra stretched out her shoulders and then took hold of the metal. She glanced up, "Come on then, Doctor."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and then nodded, "Oh yes, I'll help, if you'll let me."

Twilla looked at Zita. She raised an eyebrow in a silent question. Zita nodded. Twilla nodded back, and then shifted slightly, allowing him room between her and Myra. He took the place, silently, but turned to Myra and raised an eyebrow. She allowed a small smile, and then started pushing. They had a long way to go.

* * *


	20. Chapter 20: One Solid Hope

_Mbea's Trickster __**n**__**uméro vingt**__**:**__ 'One Solid Hope'. The Doctor offers an impossible idea, one that, knowing him, might just work._

_Disclaimer - I don't own any rights for Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 20 -**** One Solid Hope**

Twilla stopped them after about an hour, "Wait."

Myra glanced at her, straightening up slightly, "What's going on?"

"We can't get any closer."

She looked up, frowning at the thick black line on the horizon that was the Nexus, "We're fine, come on."

"We'll get pulled in."

"_Waylon_ didn't."

She shook her head, firmly, "I believe that just about as little as I care about it. We're not going any closer."

Myra paused, and then shook her head, "The scanner's not gunna be picked up here. We _need_ to get closer."

"It's got limited manoeuvrability. We can set it to move further into the Aperture."

She paused, and then nodded, "Fine." She looked up, narrowing her eyes against the sun, frowning at the horizon. Then she turned to the Doctor, lowering her voice, "You said five thousand miles."

"Yeah."

"How far would you say that is."

He looked up, considering, "About... three? Three and a bit?"

"Thousand?"

"Hundred."

Myra nodded, slowly, unsurprised, "Three hundred miles..."

Crystal shook her head, frowning at them, trying to keep up with the foreign measurements, "But what does that mean?"

He looked at her, "The Aperture absorbs anything within four hundred and fifty sentari. We're twenty-seven sentari away."

"But... we're still here." The girl whispered, her eyes on the Blockade, "Why hasn't it taken us."

"I don't know."

"Is the TARDIS still protecting us." Myra asked, quietly, "Is that what it is."

"The TARDIS has hermetic shielding, but that doesn't apply to the atmospheric shell. The ship _itself_ is shielded - not us."

"Then how are we still here."

"That's a very good question." He paused for a moment, and then looked back at her, "But I think Twilla's right. I don't think we should go any closer. We're already four thousand miles too far. Let's not push it."

"Okay." She turned back to Twilla, smoothly, nodding ahead of them, "Come on, then. Let's see this thing fly."

The scientist looked at her for a moment, and then nodded, slowly, "Fine." She took a step back, unclipping a small black box from the scanner and opening it up. She pressed a few buttons and the box shuddered, moving forwards by itself.

Myra raised an eyebrow, looking it over as it wheeled across the sand. She caught the Doctor's eyes, and then quickly averted her gaze, dangerously close to bursting into laughter, "Nice."

Twilla frowned at her, "What?"

"The scanner. Very... _retro_."

"Retro?"

She gave a small, suppressed laugh, "Never mind."

The Doctor smirked.

The Ylatail paused, looking at them, and then shook her head, looking back at the controls, "The thing is, I have no idea how far to set it. We're already too far into its grasp, how much further will it take to pick it up?"

The Doctor didn't pause: "Keep it going straight at one hundred and eighty for ninety kisarts and then up the speed to two hundred and sixty. After that just keep upping the speed, push it to maximum, as soon as it hits maximum speed hit the booster and eject the cells."

"Eject the power cells?" Twilla repeated, sceptically, "But that'll stop it _running_, and it's not as if we could just stroll up there and get it back!"

"Look, the cells will fall to the ground and the momentum will carry the scanner over them. The booster will activate and set them alight and that'll force the scanner upwards, give it a bit of a lift, encourage the osmosis."

"You have no way of knowing that will work."

"It's the only way, unless you wanna go up there yourself, of course?"

She just raised an eyebrow, looking at him. Myra caught the continued scepticism in the gesture and shook her head, "Look, just listen to him."

"Why."

"Because..." she hesitated, battling to find another way of putting this, and then sighed, "Because he's a genius." The Doctor gave a surprised but none the less cocky grin, and she shook her head, wearily, "Oh, don't let it go to your head."

"As if it hasn't already..." Crystal said, suppressing her smile.

"You should get that out of him." Zita advised, coldly, looking him up and down.

"It would take a _mountain_ to crush an ego like his. And I haven't got one handy. So _listen_ to him."

Twilla paused, and then nodded, slowly, twisting a wheel on the control pad. The scanner hastened, its thick treads making easy work of the sand.

Myra's eyes followed it, intently, watching its path, "You do know what you're doing, right?"

The Doctor tilted his head slightly to one side, "_Well_... let's find out."

She looked at him, and then shook her head, slowly, realising that that was the best she was going to get, "A Time Lord's guess..."

"A Time Lord's _hope_."

"One solid hope's worth a _cartload_ of certainties..."

"Oh, _that's_ good, who said _that_?"

She looked at him, "_You_."

"Did I?" he thought for a second, and then nodded, "Oh yes, so I did."

She smiled, shaking her head, and then moved her eyes back to the scanner. The smile faded. Her hand moved slowly down into her jeans pocket, securing a tight grip on the screwdriver. She glanced at the Doctor. He was looking over Twilla's shoulder, pointing at the controls, muttering something. She paused, and then looked back at the scanner. She flicked a switch on the tube, pushing it up and pressing it into place.

"Are you alright, Miss Hull?"

She started, turning her head sharply to the voice. Crystal was looking at her, concernedly, her eyes moving over her. Myra shook her head, wearily, moving a little away from the others, their footsteps falling into line, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Your ship still giving you trouble?"

She raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think that."

The girl shrugged, awkwardly, "You look... _distracted_."

She paused, and then nodded, "Yeah. But I'll live."

"Is there anything I can do, Miss Hull?"

"_Well_... For _one_, you could give those two boys permission to go sit down - they look exhausted. And, _two_, for the love of _God_, _stop_ calling me _Miss Hull_. It's _Myra_. Okay?"

She paused, looking at her, and then smiled, "Okay. I can do that. _Myra_." She turned to Enoch and Colby, "You guys go sit down, okay?"

The men nodded and settled down on the floor.

"Thankyou. It was getting awkward with them standing around like soldiers, anyway."

Crystal laughed and shook her head. Myra looked at her, smiling, curiously, "So how old _are_ you?"

"Me? I'm actually nineteen."

"Really? You look young."

"Thanks."

She jerked her head towards the others, "How long you been working with this lot, then?"

"Oh, five years now. We've been working on a scanner for three of those."

"That long? How come?"

"It took some time to find a material that wouldn't dissolve as soon as it hit. With this type we've got -"

"Eighteen seconds?"

She smiled, "Yep."

"Still... not really... that long...?"

"We don't _need_ that long. We just need to gets the specs and download them."

"Cutting it a little tight, aren't you?"

She shrugged, smiling, "No fun otherwise."

Myra looked at her for a second, and then echoed her smile, "Yeah. You know what, you remind me of someone."

"Who?"

She winked and jolted her head in the Doctor's direction, "Guess."

The girl looked. He was still facing Twilla, talking very fast, his face animated, gesturing wildly with one hand as he took the controls from her and opened the back, probably giving them a quick upgrade. Crystal smiled, shaking her head, "You know, he's not so bad. For a man. He's helping us out, even after we ignored him."

"Oh, don't worry, you wouldn't be the first."

She nodded, thoughtfully, and then turned to her, "Who is he? _Apart_ from a genius."

"Don't think he's really anything _but_ that." Myra thought about it, and then shook her head, "The Doctor's the guy that turns up at the last moment and saves the day. He's brilliant, _exceptionally_ bright, and _God_, does he know it."

The girl glanced at him again, looking him up and down, "He looks a little..."

"A little...?"

"Kind of..."

"Kind of...?"

She paused, thinking, and then shook her head, letting out a laugh, "Never mind."

"No, go ahead. I won't tell him, I promise."

"Kind of... _cute_?"

Myra laughed, shaking her head, "Yeah, he does, doesn't he?"

"Don't tell him I said that."

"Only if _you_ don't tell him _I_ said it."

They both laughed.

"You two busy over there or d'you feel like giving me a hand?"

Crystal rolled her eyes and Myra laughed again, "Come on. Let's see what the genius wants."

* * *

"Nice of you to join us, Miss Hull."

"It's Myra. And thanks. You alright, Doctor?"

"Coping, you got my screwdriver?"

"Yeah, here."

The Doctor pushed the sonic into the wiring, letting the cooing trill echo around the plastic, "_There_ we go." He handed it back to Myra and the remote back to the scientist, "Right, here. Up it to two sixty. Keep it accelerating."

"Fine." Twilla twisted the wheel all the way up, her fingers tapping on buttons. The scanner sped up.

"Did you see that?" Crystal asked, sharply.

Myra looked at her for a moment, and then back to the scanner, "Yeah."

"Like a, like... _shiver_."

"Yeah."

"What _was_ it?"

"I don't know." She turned her head again, "Doctor?"

"The Blockade is taking hold. Stay back."

"Fine by _me_..."

The flicker moved over the scanner again, misting it over for just a second, as if something had passed over it. The Doctor glanced up and then turned back to the controller, urgently, "Twilla, you've gotta push it."

"It's on four thirty."

"Then push it to four _ninety_."

She gritted her teeth, and Myra knew she didn't appreciate his command, "Right..."

She turned a dial, flipped a level, held down a switch. The scanner took more speed, rocketing towards the Nexus. He looked back and forth between the scanner and the remote, his fingers tapping almost edgily against his leg, and Myra could see that he was itching to retake control. She shot him a look of warning and he nodded, shortly, acknowledging it, but his fingers didn't stop tapping.

"If the scanner falls there's no way it'll reach the Blockade, keep it stable."

"I am."

He glanced up again, and the mist was thicker this time, the whole box flickering in and out of focus, "Here it comes."

"I know."

"Keep it _stable_."

"I _know_!"

"Ready?"

Twilla just shook her head this time, ignoring him, keeping her attention on stopping the box from falling onto its side. Myra's heart was thumping in her chest. Crystal grabbed her hand, squeezing tightly. She looked down at it, and then back up to her face.

The girl gave a small, thrilled smile, "Three years of work... Here it is."

Myra squeezed her hand, and then looked back at the scanner. The flicker was now so intense it looked like a TV channel with poor reception.

The Doctor watched it, looking just as wound-up as Crystal, "Oh, here we go. Come on then, Blockade, you pick it up. Pick it up, pick it up, _come_ on..."

"Okay, let's do it."

"You're at maximum speed?"

"No, but I can't get it up to maximum and keep it stable, four ninety's gunna have to do."

"Okay, that's fine, remember - hit the booster and eject the cells, _simultaneously_, it won't work otherwise."

She nodded, flicking open a few covers, "I got it first time, Doctor."

"This better work..." Zita said, slowly.

"It will."

"How d'you know?"

He glanced at her, "I _don't_ know. I'm guessing." Back to Twilla, "Let's go."

"Alright then."

"Simultaneously."

"I know."

"On three. One, two -"

Twilla shook her head, "Screw it."

She pushed down three buttons, simultaneously, forcing them down into the casing.

* * *


	21. Chapter 21: Eighteen Seconds

_Mbea's Trickster __**kapitolu wieħed għoxrin**__: 'Eighteen Seconds'. For the scientists their work is done but for Myra she knows it's only just beginning._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who... or plenty of other stuff :)_

* * *

**Chapter 21 - ****Eighteen Seconds**

The power cells ejected at the same time a bolt of fire blasted from the scanner, torching the sand behind it. The cells lit and exploded, the blast smashing through Myra's eardrums, making her stumble back slightly, echoing for miles. The whirlwind of fire pushed the scanner up, into the air, and threw it hurtling into the Blockade, where it stuck, as if it had hit a wall.

"Yes!" Crystal grabbed Zita and pulled her into a hug, laughing away to herself, "_Yes_!"

"We've still got readings." Twilla said, her eyes moving over something that looked like a small PDA from her pocket, tapping buttons, "Signal's holding. Looks clear."

"We've _done_ it!" the girl shook her head, amazed, and then, abruptly, pulled the Doctor down to her level and into a hug, planting an incredibly enthusiastic kiss him on the forehead, "It _worked_, you made it _work_!"

"Hey hey hey, just let - just let me, let me -"

"Not a chance!"

Myra's eyes stayed on the scanner, only just aware of the scene going on beside her. She took a few small steps forwards, counting under her breath. Five. Six. She pulled out the sonic screwdriver, adjusting her grip, taking a few more quick steps forwards. Seven. Eight. Nine. She could feel the Doctor's eyes on her back, hear the excited chatter and triumph start to fade as they turned to face her. Ten. Eleven.

"Myra..." the Doctor's voice cut through her, but she didn't turn.

Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.

She closed one eye, holding the screwdriver out at arm's length, aiming carefully.

Fifteen. Sixteen.

She pressed the function key down, quickly, forcing it down as far it would go.

"_Myra_!"

He'd figured out what she was doing, started towards her, grabbing hold of her shoulders, forcing her away, but it was too late. The capsule opened and millions of bright lights seemed to fall from it, getting pulled in by the Aperture and swirling round and round like leaves in a storm.

Seventeen. Eighteen.

The scanner disappeared.

* * *

Myra looked at the place where the scanner had been, breathing heavily, oblivious of the Doctor's tight grip on her. She was shivering.

"Was that..." Zita's eyes were too fixed on the Aperture, her mouth open, seemingly fighting to find what to say, "Did you just..."

"Myra?" Crystal was looking at her, her eyes confused and hurt, filled with something close to dread, "Tell me you didn't. Tell me."

"You released the Malsatels." Twilla said, quietly, her eyes widening, "You... you let them out."

Enoch took a sharp step forwards, no longer caring about etiquette and protocols, "The data, is it corrupted?"

She hesitated, and then looked down at her pad, "I don't know. I... I can't tell."

The Doctor was looking at the Blockade, his breaths shallow and audible over the silence. Then he turned back to Myra, his grip tightening on her shoulders, furious, "What have you done? Do you know what you've _done_?!"

"Yes." She whispered, a cool contrast to his fury, "I know exactly what I've done."

"Then _why_, _**why**_, Myra?!"

She looked up at him, a spark of anger powering her, "Because _that_ was his condition. _That_ was what he told me to do. That was what I had to do to save Maddie."

The Doctor looked at her, his anger changing into a mix of horror and realisation, "That's what he told you?"

"Yes."

"_Myra_!"

She turned round to meet Crystal's crystal blue eyes, "I'm sorry. I really am, I'm so... so sorry."

The girl shook her head, weakly, "I don't understand."

"And you won't. I'm sorry."

Twilla took an angry step forwards. Myra stepped backwards away from the Doctor and then pulled up the gun, swiftly, the one she had taken from the girl's holster long before, "Stay back."

The Ylatail looked at her, shaking her head, anger burning in her eyes, "What have you done."

"You're not Shadow Proclamation, are you." Zita said, quietly.

"No. I'm just... I'm no-one. And I'm sorry."

Crystal shook her head and moved towards her, "But _Myra _-"

"_Stay back_, Crystal."

The girl stopped, looking at her. Then she shook her head again, "Three years. Three years of my life, Myra."

"I know."

Anger flared, "Then why did you _do_ it?"

"I'm sorry. He's got my niece, I'm... _so sorry._"

"_Who's_ got your niece?" she didn't reply, and the girl shook her head, anger burning up again, "I was wrong about you. About _both_ of you!"

"It's not his fault." She paused, and then drew in a deep breath, "Don't blame him, it's me. Blame _me_."

The girl shook her head, "Fine. I can do that."

Myra hesitated, and then shook her head, "Crystal. There's a teleport pack in your right pocket. Could you hand it to me."

She looked at her, "What will you do if I don't?"

She closed her eyes for a second, and then looked at her, shaking her head, "I'll shoot you." There was a pause, and she shook her head, desperately, "I don't want to kill you, I really don't, and I'm sorry. But I don't have any other choice."

Crystal looked at her. Her eyes were filling, and it was breaking her heart. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out the strap, throwing it to her.

"Thankyou." She fastened the strap onto her wrist, hesitated, and then looked up at her again, "I'm sorry."

"Get out of here." Zita said, sharply, shaking her head, disgustedly, "_Now_."

Myra hesitated again, and then nodded, glancing down at the teleport and tapping in the TARDIS' base codes, "Okay. I'm going. Doctor?"

He shook his head, "Myra, there must be -"

"Doctor, you either take hold of this teleport or I'm leaving you here." She said, not looking at him, forcing her voice not to shake, "So what's it to be."

There was a pause, and then he moved beside her, slowly, "Myra."

A tear fell down her cheek and she shook her head, roughly, "No. Just do it."

Twilla took a sharp step towards them and she levelled the gun at her head, quickly, "_No_! I won't become a murderer for him, I _won't_!"

She grabbed the Doctor's hand, forcing it onto the pad underneath hers, and pressed the button.

Myra crashed onto the floor of the TARDIS, the grated floor sending sharp pain through her. She paused for a moment, breathing heavily, pushing her way past the time sickness, and then shook her head and got to her feet. She turned to the TARDIS and immediately started, pushing buttons and sticking in switches.

"Myra, what are you doing."

She didn't look at him, feeling misplaced anger move through her, "You can either help me or you can shut up." She paused, her hands on the controls, her face expressionless, "Time to find Maddie."

She forced up the handbrake, setting the coordinates in for a return trip.

* * *

Myra stepped out the door, taking a quick look around her. She paused, her eyes moving over the familiar rocky walls, "We're here."

She heard the Doctor step out behind her, "And where is here, exactly."

"Back in the caves. It wasn't a complete return trip, I nudged the coordinates a bit, got us down here. Maddie?"

"The vortex is taking its hold, Myra."

She ignored him, barely noticed him, looking around her, "_Maddie_?"

"Pretty soon it'll burn you up, burn right through your mind."

"Madeleine?"

"You haven't got long. Let me take it out of you."

"Maddie, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Please, Myra."

She didn't even glance at him, biting a hole through her bottom lip as she looked around, urgently, ignoring the pain splitting through her head, "I can handle myself, Doctor, I'm fine, and she was _right_..._**here**_. _Madeleine_! Can you hear me? _Faye_?"

"_Myra_. Let me help you."

"You wanna help me then help me find _her_."

He hesitated, and then nodded, slowly, "Okay."

She nodded and started walking down the path, "Fantastic. Madeleine?! _Madeleine_! Sweetie, are you there?"

A small noise echoed down from a path to her right. She spun round, facing it, "Maddie?"

The sound echoed again, and she took a step towards it, "_Maddie_?" it sounded like footsteps, pattering feet.

She spun back to the Doctor, "Did you hear that?"

He nodded, slowly, his eyes moving cautiously over the path, "Yeah."

She shook her head, starting off, her heart beating fast in her chest, "I've gotta find her."

"Maybe, just, just slow down."

She shook her head, speeding up, "No, I've gotta find her."

"Myra, come on, just -"

The pattering echoed through the caves again and she turned, sharply, "This way!"

The Doctor turned, looking down another path, "No. This way."

Pattering again, footsteps. They both turned, facing the same way, listening. It was definitely that way.

Myra took a step towards them, "Maddie?"

"Myra?"

Her eyes widened and she started running, "_Maddie_!" she clambered round rocky walls, deftly cutting corners as the path started getting thinner, pushing on as fast as she could, "Madeleine!"

She shuddered to a halt, her eyes locking onto the small girl, catching her footing, "Maddie."

She started forwards and then jolted to a stop again as hands grabbed her shoulders, "_Wait_!"

She spun around, furiously, battling with the hands, "Let _go_ of me!"

The Doctor shook his head, immediately, tightening his grip, "No. Think about it. It might be a trick."

She hesitated, and then turned back to her. She looked at the girl, closely. Her curly hair fell over her bright blue eyes, and she was wearing a black pleated dress with white tights that were stained slightly with sand. Her right hand was chained to a metal link in the wall, and the sight of it sent cold, furious anger right through Myra's heart.

She shook her head, taking another step towards her, "What possible threat could a little girl cause. Maddie, it's okay, I'm here now."

"Myra, it's a trap."

She threw off his grip, angrily, "I _don't_..._ care_." She locked her eyes onto his for a second, and then turned back to the girl, "Sweetie, it's okay. I'm here."

Maddie turned her head to her, weakly, "Myra?"

"Yes, it's me, sweetie. It's okay. It's okay, everything's gunna be okay."

She took a few more steps towards her, and then, minding the Doctor's words, hesitated, looking her over. She couldn't see anything. She looked over the chain. Simple metal. Just metal.

She shook her head, slowly, moving her eyes down to Maddie's, "How you holdin' up, hon?" her voice was small and contained a forcefully suppressed shake.

"Mummy?" she held out her free hand, reaching out for her.

She pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob and shook her head, "It's _Myra_, Myra's here, don't worry, baby."

She moved towards her, reflexively, holding out her hand.

"_No_!"

* * *

The Doctor came from nowhere, pushing her out the way and into the wall, pain sparking through her as the rock jabbed into her arm. The girl's hand missed hers by an inch and grasped onto the Doctor instead.

Myra spun back round, quickly, anger flaring up again, "_Doctor _-"

She stopped. She turned, looking behind her, looking around. He wasn't there.

"_Doctor_?"

"He's gone."

She spun round again, her eyes fixing onto Maddie, "What?"

"Absorbed." The girl straightened up, deftly pulling her hand out of the chain. Myra just stared and she glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, "He was a good meal. Almost _sorry_ about tricking you like this. Far too easy."

"But... the Doctor..."

"Dead." She paused, and then smiled, "Don't think I'm finished with _you_, either."

She pulled something out from behind her back, remarkably quick, and before Myra could recognise the gun in her hands, she had pulled the trigger.

* * *


	22. Chapter 22 Out of the Frying Pan

_Mbea's Trickster __**z**__**ahl **__**zweiundzwanzig**__: 'Out of the Frying Pan...' Myra finally gets what she asked for, but is it what she really wanted?_

Doctor Who © BBC

* * *

**Chapter 22 -****Out of the Frying Pan...**

Myra woke up. She rolled her head to the other side. It hurt. She sat bolt upright, pulling in a sharp breath. She paused for a moment. She was alive. She opened her eyes, and saw nothing. It was pitch black.

She leant back, trying to put her hand up to her head but she must have got it caught on something because it was yanked back, painfully. She fought with it for a second, wincing, hearing the clang of metal but not really understanding it.

_Slow down. Slow down._

She slowed down, stopping her frantic movements and letting logic take charge. She slid her right hand down to her left, awkward in the dark, and felt blindly for the thing that restrained her. It was a cuff, a cold, metal cuff. She followed it until she found the chain, and then followed that too. It was secured to the wall.

She paused, thinking, and then she remembered. _God_, she remembered. She let her hand fall slowly to the floor, hunching back against the wall and then resting her forehead on her knees. Tears burned down her face. What had she done. _God_, what had she _done_?

"Myra?"

She snapped her head up, "_Faye_?"

"_Myra_!"

"Faye!" she tried to pull towards the voice but the chain pulled her back again. She reached out with her free hand, "Fi, I'm here. Oh my God, Faye, are you alright?"

A hand grabbed onto hers, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Myra, what the hell is going on."

"I don't know. Where's Maddie, have you got her?"

"Yeah, she's here, she's fine."

"Oh, thank God. Where?"

"She's sleeping. The whole thing just... just whacked her out. Myra, _what is going on_."

She hesitated, and then shook her head, "Are you Faye?"

"_What_?"

"I need you to prove that you are who you say you are."

"What the hell are you -"

"Just _do_ it, Fi!"

Her sister faltered at her tone, tightened her grip on her hand and then let go. She seemed to withdraw back against the wall, and Myra could tell she'd hurt her.

"Faye, please."

There was a long pause, "Faye Miranda Barlow. Husband's Jean-Jacques Barlow, I met him during a gap year in France, we call his Jean. Child Madeleine Rose."

"Fi, that's not -"

"You call me Fi, 'cause - for _some_ reason - when you were little you couldn't pronounce _Faye_. We had a cat called Cat, a dog called Dog and a hamster that you called Genie. We grew up basically with only each other 'cause Mum worked double shifts at a restaurant and Dad left us when you were six."

"Okay."

"You hate your job and always wish you could just pack up and leave but you don't want to move far from home."

"Okay."

"You've got a scar down your leg where you fell off your bike when you were nine and another down your shoulder from when you got clipped by a bus coming home from Spar."

"Okay, Fi."

"I love strawberries but you're the only person I know that hates them, you're a size fourteen and have been since you were at school, and winter 1996 I broke Mum's crystal necklace and blamed it on you. She believed me."

"She _always_ believed you." Myra paused for a moment, and then shook her head, letting out a small, choked laugh, "And with the way I used to silver-tongue my way out of things back then I can't blame her."

"Sorry."

"Yeah. Doesn't matter now."

There was a pause, and then Faye took her hand again, "What's going on, Myra. Tell me. Please."

"A lot of crazy stuff, I gotta warn you."

"No, I didn't mean that. I know where we are."

"What?"

"He told me."

She leant closer to her, immediately, "_Who_ told you?"

"This guy. He said you knew him."

"What was his name?"

"He didn't say. He told us about what had happened, what he was doing. Where we were."

"What did he look like?"

"He was like..." she paused for a moment, thinking, "I don't know, tall... brown hair and eyes... maybe about thirty-five? He was wearing this, like, _robe_, sort of thing, a black robe, with a white cross on the shoulder."

"Sedley." She said, quietly.

"Is that his name?"

"No. Not really." She turned back to her, "You said you understood where you were. What's happening."

"Yeah. Well, _ish_. I'm more sort of going along with it right now, to tell the truth."

She gave a small smile, "Yeah, welcome to _my_ world..."

"But... where is he?"

"Sedley?"

"No. The Doctor. Where _is_ he."

Myra paused. Then she shook her head, slowly, "Gone."

"Gone? Gone _where_?"

She paused again, "Sedley killed him."

"He's... he's _dead_?"

"But it doesn't make any sense." She whispered, shaking her head again, "If he absorbs the Doctor then I never came here. And if I never came here then he never existed. How is he _stopping_ it?"

"I don't understand."

"Or maybe he's _not_ stopping it. Maybe he's just keeping it at bay... But _how_?"

"He... _absorbed_ him?"

"He's one of the Trickster's Brigade, he _assimilated_ him."

"So... he deleted him from time?"

"Yes."

"But the Doctor brought you here."

"Yes."

"So if he killed the Doctor... the Doctor wouldn't have brought you here... so you shouldn't _be_ here."

"I should fade. But I haven't. _Why_."

"Sedley's stopping it?" she shrugged, and then Faye tried again: "But that doesn't make any sense. If he's one of the Trickster's Brigade, he consumes _chaos_. So why wouldn't he let you fade, let _all_ of us fade?"

Myra gave a small smile. She'd forgotten that Faye was a bit of a science-fiction geek _herself_... "I don't know. But maybe it's because..." she stopped.

_I created him_. She answered, silently, _He gets rid of me and he doesn't exist to get rid of me. Paradox_.

Paradox...

"Paradox." She whispered, letting the idea form in her head, "A _Paradox Machine_. Of _course_, a _**Paradox**__ Machine_!"

"What?"

"That's how he's _controlling_ it, _that's_ why we haven't faded!"

"Sedley's got a _Paradox_ Machine?"

"Remains of the TARDIS that crashed into the first star. What was left must have broken off, fallen down to Mbea. And, millions of years later... he could scavenge that."

"And make a Paradox Machine? How would he even know how to _do_ that?"

"The Blockade is a hole in time. Through it can be seen the entire universe. He must've seen one through that - maybe even the _Master's_ - and just _copied_ it. Of course, it would take hundreds of years, maybe even _thousands_, but he'd do it."

"You're telling me Sedley is more than a thousand years old."

"At this time, Fi, he's about nine million."

"Nine... _million_?"

"Of all the things you've seen today, _that's_ the one you're gunna choose not to believe?"

"Well... he's lookin' good for it."

Myra smiled slightly. That was Faye. That was _always_ Faye. Then she looked around them, quickly, "With a Paradox Machine he could kill millions without any effect on him. He could..." she stopped, realisation flowing through her, "Whoa, wait. Wait wait wait..."

"What."

"The Trickster. That's what he wants, he wants the _Trickster_!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The last time he got inside my head I managed to reverse it, see what he and the Doctor had been talking about. He said that when he tried to delete the Trickster there was a paradox. But with the machine... he could get rid of that. He could delete them _all_."

"And just why is that a _bad_ thing?"

"Because then there's no-one left to stop him. He's never gunna _stop_, Fi, he'll keep on killing until there's nothing left to _kill_."

"So you're telling me... he's gunna be the end of the universe."

She drew in a slow, deep breath, "Basically? Yes."

Faye let out a small, dry laugh, "Fantastic. So what do we do."

"I don't know."

"What d'you mean you don't know?"

She closed her eyes, "I _don't know_."

"What d'you _mean_ you _don't know_."

Myra could hear the hint of anger in her voice, and she shook her head, anger sparking in her too, "I didn't plan this, okay? _He_ did!" she paused, forcefully calming herself, and then looked back down at the floor, "He planned it right from the beginning. And I walked right into his goddamned hands, okay?"

Faye hesitated, then tightened her grip on her hand, comfortingly, "It's not your fault."

"It _is_ my fault. If I had asked the Doctor maybe he could have found another way, maybe I didn't need to have done that. And even then he warned me, he told me not to go to her but... but I was _stupid_, I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it was a trap." She paused for a moment, and then shook her head, her voice lowering to a dark whisper: "How _dare_ he use her. How _dare_ he."

"How dare he use who?"

She didn't reply.

Her sister paused, and then tightened her grip again, "Myra. We've got to find a way out of here."

"How."

"I don't _care_ how, but I am not dying here, you hear me?" she paused, "And I'm not letting Maddie die here either. Do you understand me."

Myra opened her eyes. She looked up. Maddie. Little Madeleine. Madeleine Rose Barlow...

She straightened up, tightening her shoulders to stretch out her back, "Right. Okay. If we can get out of here the TARDIS isn't far, and I can pilot it now. I can get you two safe. But we'll have to hurry."

"Why."

"The anthromorph said it wanted the TARDIS. I don't know why. Maybe it wants to absorb it, maybe it just wants a ship, I don't know, but I think we should get our hands on it before _he_ does. So, first off, then: where are we. Any ideas?"

"No."

"But we're still in the caves."

"Yeah, as far as I can tell."

"Then why's it so dark?" she looked around her, quickly, "All the rest of the caves were lighted, the lava... So why not..."

"Every time he left he rolled a stone in front on the entrance. From the inside. Then he just... just disappeared."

"From the _inside_? Why from the _inside_?"

"I don't know."

"Unless he wasn't trying to keep something _in_... he was trying to keep something _out_..."

"Like what?"

She turned, "Like _me_. Or the Doctor. Or the _Carrasöl_, maybe."

"Carrasöl?"

"Never mind." Then she thought of something and patted herself down quickly, "Coat, have you seen his coat?"

"What?"

"I was wearing a coat, _his_ coat, the big brown trench coat, you remember?"

"Yeah. You were wearing it when he brought you in."

"What did he do with it, do you remember?"

There was a short pause, and then a small, frustrated snarl, "I dunno, I'm sorry, I don't know. Why?"

"Screwdriver. It'll be in his pocket. If we can find it we can get these chains off."

"And _then_?"

"We'll worry about that later, one step at a time." She reached out, blindly searching the area around her, "Can you see it?"

"There, d'you see?"

Myra looked. The darkness had started to take shape, and there was a slightly darker shape on the floor to her right, "Is that it?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Right." She pushed herself out and stretched her arm, reaching for it. Her fingers didn't come anywhere near. She shook her head, frustrated, and tried again, pushing at the wall with her feet, forcing herself closer, stretching as far as she physically could.

She let herself fall back to the floor, panting, "I can't. I can't."

"Come on, Myra."

"I can't. I can't reach." She paused for a second, and then moved quickly back to the wall, seized with a sudden bolt of inspiration. She dragged herself upright and yanked the shoe off her foot, turning it round so she held the toe, "Right."

She went flat on her stomach, pushing with her feet again, getting as far as she could. Her tethered wrist felt like it was about to snap, but she gritted her teeth and kept stretching, reaching out with the shoe. It caught onto the shape and it gave, easily. She gave a small smile, and stretched out again, pushing the heel down. It caught and, gently, she pulled back the shoe. It slipped off, and she cursed under her breath.

"Come on, Myra. You can do it, okay, just... concentrate."

She gritted her teeth, grimacing with the strain, not looking at her, "Sorry, Faye, did I forget to tell you?"

"Forget to tell me what?"

"_Shut_ up!"

She reached out again, again catching the jacket. She nudged it further towards her, and again. She moved the shoe further into her hand, and pressed down with her middle finger, forcing it to catch again.

"Almost got it. Come on. _Come_ on..." she pressed down again, and then, so slowly, started dragging it towards her.

"Yes. That's it. Oh come on, almost got it..."

She dragged it forwards and then, abruptly, let go of the shoe and grabbed hold of the jacket's collar, yanking it towards her, "Oh, _hell_ yeah!"

"You've got it?"

"Completely and utterly." She pulled herself back upright and quickly rifled through the pockets until she found the sonic, "Right, now, let's get _outta_ here!"

She pressed the tip to the chain and held down the function button, hearing the warbling trill, keeping the button down until the chain snapped open, letting her hand fall to the ground.

"_Brilliant_!" She bounded to her feet and looked around her, "Now, there must be some sort of light. Fi, what we got?"

"Well, when he came in he switched on this, like, _lava_ lamp sort of thing, on the ceiling, like this dark fire light."

She glanced up at the roof, holding the sonic at arm's length and holding down the function key, "Thermacultic lighting. Just gimmie a sec, see if I can trigger it..."

Fire sparked above them, lighting the whole cave ceiling bulging and glowing like a lake of lava,

"Good, fantastic, _whoa_, who the hell are _they_?"

Faye glanced at the men and women sat locked to the wall in front of them and shook her head, "Dunno, they came in with Sedley, haven't said a word since."

"Did they come in _with_ Sedley or did Sedley _bring_ them in."

"There's a difference?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't know, why, is it important?"

"Life or death. But, never matter, we'll work that out later." She crouched down beside one, a young man dressed in a black tunic, "Sir? Sir, can you hear me?"

He didn't reply, his head slouched down on his chest. She hesitated, and then took hold of his chin, moving him up to face her, "Sir?"

He moved his head slightly, falling back against the wall. She opened his eyes gently with a thumb, and then nodded and retreated back, getting to her feet, "They're from St Mary's hospital. The staff, the patients. But this can't be all of them."

"St Mary's hospital?"

"Yeah, Chichester. They've be given something, no idea what. Let's get you outta here." She moved over to her, putting the screwdriver to her cuff and unlocking it, doing the same for Madeleine and then putting a hand on the young girl's curly head, "Maddie? Maddie, darling, time to wake up now. _That's_ it, well done, g'morning, sweetheart."

"Myra?"

"That's me, honey, we're gunna bring you home, now, let me think, let me think..."

Faye looked up at her, "You said the TARDIS wasn't that far. We can move that rock between the two of us, we can get out and find it." She moved over to the stone, quickly, "Come on, it can't be that -"

"Wait."

"Why -"

"Just wait a second, yeah?" Myra walked over to her side, quickly, pulling the stethoscope out the Doctor's pocket and putting it on, placing the amplifier onto the rock.

Faye raised a sceptical eyebrow, "Is that for real?"

"Shh." She listened, closely, frowning. Then she backed away, putting the stethoscope away, shaking her head, "No. We have to find another away."

"Why?"

She just shook her head again. She didn't one hundred percent know what was out there, but those panting breaths, low snarls... didn't sound human to _her_. The display of weakness had worked on one before, but with more than two of them and _especially_ with Madeleine she wasn't willing to test it.

She turned back to her sister, quickly, handing her the sonic screwdriver, "Right, take this, unlock the others. I need time to think." A small shot of pain echoed through her head, and she shook her head, smiling a small, grim smile, "_This_ is gunna be fun..."

Faye took the sonic but stayed by her side, looking at her, concernedly, "Why, what's wrong?"

"Never mind. Get them unlocked, Faye."

She hesitated, and then turned, doing as she said. Myra let out a breath and turned her back on all of them, letting her mind tick over everything she knew exceptionally fast. Start at the beginning. Follow it through. Make it simple.

She turned back to Faye, quickly, "Fi, d'you mind if I..."

"Bounce ideas off me?" she completed, raising an eyebrow, knowing her very well, "Go ahead."

"We need to get out of here, all of us."

"Yes."

"To do that we need the TARDIS."

"Yes."

"But we can't get there. _So_... bring the TARDIS _here_. But _how_."

"The TARDIS doesn't have a remote teleport."

"No."

"And the screwdriver won't have any use, he doesn't have a return."

"No. The screwdriver won't have any use." Then she hesitated, thinking it through, "Unless..." a sharp stab of pain flew through her head and she grimaced, forcing it away, "Oh, don't you goddamned dare."

Fi turned to her, frowning, "What?"

"I activated the internal defence."

"The TARDIS has internal defences?"

"And by _doing_ that, I must have activated HADS."

"HADS?"

She looked at her, "Never watch the old series?"

Faye shrugged, "Can't stand bad computer graphics."

"HADS is the Hostile Action Displacement System. When the ship believes it's in danger it can teleport itself away without command, not far, but far enough."

"What? I've never seen _that_ before."

She smiled, shaking her head, fondly, "Well, he always forgets to turn it on, that's -" she stopped. _Forgets_? That was the wrong tense, wasn't it. What she meant was _forgot_. She shook her head again, banishing the thought from her mind, "But if we can trigger the HADS maybe I can send a pulse off the sonic that'll bring the TARDIS _here_."

"But how are you going to trigger it?"

She paused, and then shook her head, "I don't know."

_Right, come on, think, ways to trip-switch the TARDIS' defences..._ She paused, looking at the wall, and then shook her head, turning again. Manual wouldn't do, they needed automatic. Now, automatic systems, what automatic defence protocols did the TARDIS have...

"Teleport breach?" Faye suggested, hesitantly.

"Teleport breach... Maybe. Yes, maybe, yes, that would work." The she realised something and forced up the trench coat's sleeve, showing the strap still attached to her wrist, "Oh _yes_! Teleportation pack!"

"A _what_?" she asked, incredulously, "How could Sedley have not seen that?"

"He's probably never seen one before, doesn't know what it does. Maybe he thinks it's a watch." She tapped a few codes into the strap, "Right, if I put in the TARDIS' base codes then it can get us a location. Yep, there we go... Little less than a mile away, _fantastic_. Now."

Then she stopped, her hand an inch away from the button, hesitated, thinking something through, and then sighed, lowering her arm, "No. No, it won't work."

"Why not?"

"Because the TARDIS is set to recognise my molecular pattern. I set it as soon as I got on board, 'cause the TARDIS has isomorphic controls, it needed reconfiguring. It'll recognise me and just let me on board."

"So what, isn't that a _good_ thing?"

"I can't fly the TARDIS here, Fi, it'll give off a signal that the anthromorph can trace. He'll know we've escaped. But the HADS puts the system on silent running, minim necessary power. That's what we need." She turned, her eyes moving onto the doctors, "Wait. It'll work on _them_. We can just send one through, put it on a delay."

She took the strap off her, securing it onto the nearest wrist, making sure it was tight.

"Will he be okay?"

"Oh, yeah, fine. He'll just sleep a little longer than the others 'cause of the time sickness."

"You know, you didn't even ask."

She didn't look at her, concentrating on the task at hand, "Ask what?"

"Ask _me_."

She stopped. Glanced up at her. "No. I didn't."

"Why?"

"Because I know you, Faye." Her eyes moved onto the girl, huddled in a corner by their feet, "You won't let her out of your sight. Not even for a second."

Faye hesitated, and then shook her head, "I'd do it to save her."

"I don't want you to _have_ to. I _want_ you with her, Fi, I want you there to keep her safe."

There was a long pause. "End of the universe and you're thinking about _me_. About _us_."

She nodded, "Yep." She shot her a smile, "Stupid, isn't it?"

Her sister smiled back, "Totally."

"Now. Come here. I need you to trigger this for me."

"Why?"

"The signal needs to be spontaneous." Myra waited until Faye was down on her knees, still with one hand on Madeleine, and then took the sonic screwdriver from her, "Now, on three, press that button. Afterwards, take your hand off, quickly, got it? Okay, ready? One, two, _three_."

She pressed the button and Myra flicked the switch on the sonic, sending out the signal. There was a three second delay, and then the doctor disappeared, shimmering out of sight as the teleport pack transported him to the base codes provided.

"Come on, come on..." Myra muttered, forcing the switch up as far as it would go, "Gotta boost the signal, just a sec..."

The sonic chirruped, warning her of a teleportation breach, and she ignored it. She kept the signal going, kept wishing, kept hoping, her teeth gnawing through her lower lip. Then there was a shimmer in the air in front of her, and the TARDIS materialised into view.

She got smoothly to her feet, smiling, tossing the screwdriver in the air and catching it, deftly, "Super Merchant."

Faye bounded to her feet, "Now, _that's_ more like it!" she moved over to the door and then stopped, quickly, "Wait, but we haven't got a key."

"Didn't you pay any attention to what you've watched once a week for the last three years?" she took a step forwards, paused, and then clicked her fingers, sharply. The door swung open with a low creak, and she smiled again, and then turned back, "Now, quickly, Maddie - you get inside, go sit down, there's a good girl. Fi - help me with these guys, yeah?"

* * *

Together, they managed to get all fifteen of the hospital staff and patients inside the TARDIS, taking them down to the nearest quarters. Then Myra moved back up to the main console room, and leant on the controls for a moment, staring at them.

Faye appeared beside her, "Myra?" she didn't reply, and her sister hesitated, and then took a step closer, "Myra, had we... had we better get moving on?"

She shook her head, "No. We're safe here. I've deadlocked the entire TARDIS, put the hermetic shielding up to maximum. Nothing's getting through that door, Fi, I promise you."

"So what... what are you gunna do?"

Myra didn't reply. She kept her penetrating gaze on the console, looking straight through it. Right now all she needed to do was get these people out of here, get them safe. That was her priority. That was what she had to do.

She licked her dry lips, unconsciously. An idea had sparked in her head not long ago. An impossible idea. Maybe that was why her mind was latching on to it. An impossible idea... just impossible enough to work. An impossible idea for an impossible man.

She looked back up at Faye, paused, and then shook her head, slowly, "I've gotta help him."

"Help who?"

"The Doctor."

"But... but you said the Doctor was dead."

Her eyes filled, and she forced the tears not to leave her eyes, "I know. But I think I can help him."

"What, what do you _mean_, what are you talking about."

"The Paradox Machine. I _know_ it's something to do with the Paradox Machine. Maybe... if I can find out what it's doing... what he's stopping... then maybe I can help."

"_How_?"

"I've got a plan." She moved round the console, tapping in codes for another trip.

"Wait, you said if you flew this thing then he'd find out."

"Yeah, I know." She kept going, pumping the Helmic Regulator, "It doesn't matter anymore."

"Why _not_?"

"Look, you two go rest. You look starving. Tell you what, kitchen's through there, first left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, first door on your right. Take Maddie, rest up for a bit, have whatever you want. Just don't try the Blue. And don't take the marmalade, that's his."

Faye shook her head, moving towards her and firmly taking her hand, "Myra, you could _die_. You don't know what Sedley's _doing_, just, please, take this thing back home. Just walk away from this, _please_."

"I can't do that."

"Why not."

"I can't. I just, I just _can't_, I can't do it, okay, I... _can't_."

Anger seemed to spark up inside her, "_What are you doing_, Myra. What are you planning. And how d'you even know it's gunna _work_?"

Myra paused a beat, looking at her, "I _don't_ know. I'm guessing."

* * *


	23. Chapter 23: Into the Fire

_Mbea's Trickster _**פרק עשרים וש לוש** _**(n.23)**__: '...Into the Fire'. Myra makes a risky move._

_Disclaimer - no © :(_

* * *

**Chapter 23 -**** ...Into the Fire**

"You see, the TARDIS can do scans for alien tech, it's _always_ been able to do it, but the Doctor doesn't like setting it up 'cause he thinks it ruins the surprise."

"Oh, well, that's _very_ him..."

"But what it can _also_ do is latch onto _similar_ tech, y'know, Gallifreyan technology, _TARDISes_. There hasn't been much of a chance for him to test it since, well, y'know, but I'm pretty sure it still works."

"So you can lock on to the Paradox Machine?"

"Theoretically, yes. If I just... yeah, _there_ we go. We're there."

"Then we better get moving if you don't want that friend of yours to find us."

"Yeah, yeah, we better."

"Myra?"

"Yeah?"

"Look at the monitor."

* * *

Myra moved over to her, glancing over her shoulder, "Well. _That's_..."

"Yeah."

Outside the ship was a mess of wires, pillars and metal, the walls and ceiling glowing a dull red. A wreck of a console stood in the middle, enclosed inside a battered metal cage, tubes and piped coming from it and attaching to other sides. Torn fabric adorned hexagon lights and puffs of steam shot out from the base.

"What... what's _wrong_ with it?"

Myra shook her head, slowly, "He's only seen glances. It's amazing he even managed to get it _working_. Must've taken so long..."

"It looks..."

"Like a monstrosity of a monstrosity. I know." Her eyes moved down the screen, and she tapped a few buttons, zooming in, "There's the pressure gauge. It's on twelve already, way into the red. It's been triggered, but it's not... I mean, there's not..."

"No great big tear in the universe? No huge hole in the sky, millions of dead Humans from the future pouring out to kill us all?"

"Well... yeah."

Faye shook her head, "Maybe it's more subtle than that. After all, the Master was hardly known for his _restraint_..."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. And the anthromorph can be pretty sneaky when it needs to be... Where's Maddie?"

"Put her to bed. Fifth room on the right."

Myra didn't glance up at her, "Really? Notice anything you recognised?"

"Not really, why?"

She looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, "That room is Rose's."

"That room _was_ Rose's."

"Try telling _him_ that."

"What are you going to do."

She paused, and then shook her head, once again pulling out the sonic screwdriver, "_Well_... I _think_... with a bit of jiggery-pokery..." she could sense her sister's eyes on her, but she didn't acknowledge them, keeping her concentration where it needed to be, "_There_ we go. Yeah. I think we're okay. I think we're set."

"Set for _what_?"

She paused, looking at her, "We're gunna cross my personal timeline."

"Oh, no no _no_. Crossing a personal timeline is _bad_, remember?"

"Since when?"

"Since _ever_! _Hello_, '_Father's_ Day'? 'The Girl in the Fireplace'? Series two episode five?"

"Episode _four_."

"_God_ that's geeky."

"I don't care."

"But what if -"

"That Paradox Machine is designed to keep me alive." She interrupted, firmly, "I don't know why, I don't know for how long and I don't know how I know that, but I'm gunna use it to keep me from fading and go back to where it all started. Go back and change it."

"Go back and change _what_?"

Myra hesitated, and then shook her head, "I did something wrong, Faye. _Really_ wrong. I've gotta change it, I _have_ to try."

"Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden, Myra, your Doctor said it himself!"

"Yeah. Except for cheap tricks, I know."

"But you're still gunna go ahead with it."

"Yes."

"So what are you planning on doing, then?"

She glanced up at her, and smiled, "Cheap tricks."

* * *

The explosion forced the scanner up, into the air, and threw it hurtling into the Blockade. Myra watched it, carefully, her lips already moving.

One.

"Yes! _Yes_!"

Two.

"We've still got readings. Signal's holding. Looks clear."

Three.

"We've _done_ it! It _worked_, you made it _work_!"

Four.

"Hey hey hey, just let - just let me, let me -"

"Not a chance!"

Myra took a few small steps forwards. Five. Six. She pulled out the sonic screwdriver. Seven. Eight. Nine. The Doctor's eyes on her back. Ten. Eleven.

"Myra..."

Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.

She aimed, closing one eye.

Fifteen. Sixteen.

She pressed the key down, quickly, forcing it down as far it would go.

"_No_!"

* * *

Something strong hit her from behind, the small of her back, hard. Myra was thrown to the floor, hands scrabbling for a grip on the sand, her heart pounding in her chest. She pulled herself upright, over onto her back, one hand pushing down on the floor, the other fumbling frantically for the screwdriver before it was too late, and then she looked up, fixing her eyes onto the person in front of her. Her breath froze in her throat. "What the -"

Seventeen. Eighteen.

The scanner disappeared.

* * *


	24. Chapter 24: Paradox

_Mbea's Trickster_** หมายเลขยี่สิบ**สี่ **(n.24)**_: 'Paradox'. A paradox occurs, a plan must be made, and things start to get very confusing, for both Myra __**and**__ Myra._

Doctor Who © BBC

* * *

**Chapter 24 -**** Paradox**

"We've got it. Eighteen seconds of data, we've... we've really..." Twilla's voice trailed off as she looked back and forwards between the two women in front of her, "Wait... what... what the hell..."

The woman got to her feet, brushing off her hands on her blue jeans, dusting off her long brown coat, "It's been ages since I ran that fast. You had to get right in the middle of nowhere, didn't you. Took me bloomin' _ages_."

Myra was staring at her, mouth open, shaking her head, slowly, "No."

She glanced at her, wincing apologetically, "Sorry."

"_No_."

"Yes."

"_No_!"

Myra 2.0 shook her head and turned away from her, "Right, okay, so talking to myself is like talking to a parrot. Doctor, I think I'll get more sense from _you_."

But the Doctor was looking at her with just the same amount of shock, "_Myra_?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me."

"But... what are you... what have you _done_?"

"I've crossed my own personal time line. Broken into established events."

He paused, and then shook his head, "But you _can't_, it's not possible."

"It is."

"It's _impossible_."

"I'm standing right here, Doctor." She hesitated, looking at him, and then put out her hand, running it down his cheek, "You're still here. You can't be, but... but you are."

"Myra, what are you talking about."

"What the _hell_ is going on?"

Myra Mark-Two turned around, quickly, and faced her past self, "Look, Myra, listen to me. I'm you, from the future. I came back in the TARDIS, and I _know_ it's a lot to believe, but you've just gotta -"

Mark-One held up a hand, "Stop. I _know_ you're me. What, d'you think we're _stupid_? Come on, it's not that difficult to work out." Then she shook her head, "But... the _scanner_. Myra, that was the only way to get Faye, to get Maddie, what have you -"

"I've _got_ Faye, Myra. _And_ Maddie."

"So... how... why..."

The Doctor was looking between them, frowning, "But... but this is a _paradox_, how are you sustaining it, why hasn't she... _you_... just cancelled yourself out?"

2.0 shook her head, turning back to 1.0, "Long story. Now, Myra, listen to me. Crystal's got a teleportation pack. Use it to get back to your TARDIS, and then fly forward in time to where you saw Maddie. Look for her. _Find_ her, whatever it takes."

"But... but _you've_ got Maddie."

"No, I've got _my_ Maddie. I meant _past_ Maddie. _Your_ Maddie!"

Myra 1.0 looked at her, completely thrown by this but willing to try, "Okay. Alright." She turned to the scientists who were now just staring at them, eyes wide, completely nonplussed, "Crystal, teleportation pack?"

The girl shook her head, slowly, reached into her pocket and threw her the pack. Then she looked back and forth between them, shakily, "What... what is going on?"

2.0 glanced at her, "Well, you know that TARDIS I was talking about? Yeah, it also travels in time. I'm from the future."

1.0 shook her head, "Well, obviously not very _far_ in the future, I got that haircut five days ago!"

"Well _that_ doesn't prove anything, you always get the _same_ haircut!"

"What's wrong with my haircut?"

"_Nothing_, or I wouldn't still _have_ it, _would_ I?"

The Doctor took a quick step forwards, "Right, _one_ of you, tell me what the hell's going on and _now_."

Myra 2.0 shook her head and moved towards him, "Doctor, you've gotta come with me."

"Why."

"Because there's complications, okay, so come with me." She turned to her other self, "Myra, teleport back to your TARDIS, do it now."

"But... what about the Doctor?"

"He's coming with me."

"I don't think so."

2.0 gritted her teeth, "We do _not_... have time... to _discuss_ this. Get back to the TARDIS. _NOW_!"

1.0 flinched back slightly at the command in her voice, and nodded, "Okay. Alright."

"Get back, find Maddie. Understood? You have to _find Maddie_."

"Got it." She looked down at her wrist, tapping in the TARDIS' base codes, "But there's two TARDISes, right? So... I'll need a secondary decider code, yeah?"

"Way ahead of you, 668237-5764. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Now go, get out of here, before the walls break down again."

She nodded, glanced at the Doctor, paused, and then forced down the button.

Myra watched her past self shimmer out of sight and then turned back to the Doctor, "Doctor, come on, we've gotta go."

But Enoch took a sharp step forwards, "No no no, first you're gunna tell us what the hell is going on."

"I'm changing the past. At this moment I originally let the Malsatels escape from the scanner. It created... something... something I didn't want created. I had to come back and change it."

"But that's a paradox."

"I know. I'm sorry, it's... it's complicated."

"So why isn't there another of _him_?" Crystal asked, nodding at the Doctor, "Another Doctor, Doctor-Mark-Two."

"If there were two versions of him in the same place and the same time the _universe_ would tear itself apart. I couldn't risk it. Now we've really gotta go. Doctor."

She moved back a few steps, shooting the scientists a smile, "Good luck with the scanner. I hope you find what you're looking for."

"They do."

Myra spun around, raising her eyebrows, incredulously, "_Myra_, what are you _doing_ here, I thought I told you to get back to the caves!"

"No, sorry, I'm not her."

"Who _are_ you, then?"

"Myra-Mark-Five. And we've got a problem."

* * *

"Okay, this is giving me a headache."

Myra shook her head, "I'm sorry, Fi, I know it's difficult."

"How d'you think it feels for _us_..." 5.0 muttered, shaking her head.

Her sister looked back and forth between them, "So which one's... _my_ Myra?"

"Me."

"Though technically we _both_ are."

Faye shook her head, thoroughly confused, "You know what, you two should wear name tags."

"Nah. Doesn't really matter which one of us you speak to, we're both... _us_."

2.0 nodded, "Technically. What are you doing? Isn't that the Heliotrion scanner?"

5.0 shook her head, continuing fiddling with a metal box tied around her neck with string, "An adjusted version, yeah. With one specific purpose."

"What?"

"I can't tell you. Time lines, and all that."

She raised an eyebrow, "You think we haven't pretty much smashed that rule into a million pieces _any_way?"

"Still. Pays to be careful."

She nodded, "Okay. So. How did _you_ get here."

"Through the time rift. Be careful with that, by the way, took us three attempts to get through. Not nice."

"Why?"

She shrugged, casually, "I saw the time vortex. I saw all of time, all of space. And, y'know, us being a complicated event in time and space, an anomaly of time, it's still echoing in my head."

"An anomaly of time... I like that."

"Yeah, I know, I do too. I call it a chronomaly."

"Hmm."

"Yeah. But... having the time vortex in my head... isn't good. It's like you with the TARDIS."

"Do you not _have_ the TARDIS, then?"

"Not in my head, no, and, soon, neither will you. So make the most of it." 5.0 paused, and then shook her head, "But it's burning me up. I don't have long."

"_What_?" Faye asked, looking at her, shaking her head, "But... _no_. No you _can't_. You _can't_ be! There must... there must be something we can do."

5.0 smiled, gently, "There isn't. I can see it. I absorbed the time vortex. Series one episode thirteen, remember?"

Her eyes were staring to fill, "But... but you knew it was going to happen. So why... _why_?"

"Because I had to, Fi. And I'm not dying. Not really." She nodded at her, "Mark-Two will still be here, and I'll just... cease to exist."

"But..." Fi paused, looking to the other, "You'll still be here?"

2.0 smiled, "I'll still be here."

She paused again, looking back and forth between them, and then took a shaky step backwards, "I have no idea what's going on."

"That's okay, neither do we." 5.0 turned to her, "So. What are you gunna do."

"Have you decided on how you're going to stop the Paradox Machine yet." The Doctor said, suddenly, his eyes moving between both of them.

5.0 smiled, "Oh, _you're_ quick."

Myra looked at him quickly, "So you've decided it's a TARDIS, then?"

He just looked at her, not saying a word. 5.0 glanced at her, and then shook her head, taking pity on him, "Yes. We've got a plan."

2.0 glanced up, vaguely surprised, "Have we? Well, that's news to _me_..."

"Well, _you_ haven't _yet_. Think it through."

"Okay... So... _you_ came back through the rift, through the Blockade. Because you couldn't fly the TARDIS, because it had been taken out of you."

"Yeah. And I didn't have the Doctor because of the whole 'ripping a hole in the universe' thing."

"Right. But you're Mark-Five. What happened to Three and Four?"

"Three went back to save One, the original, we need her alive. The Doctor pushed us out of the way when the anthromorph was trying to absorb us and sacrificed himself, but he wasn't there in this timeline, this time it was Three."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, "You came back to save _me_? You tore a _hole in the fabric of reality _to save _me_?"

5.0 nodded, simply, "Yeah. And I'd do it again, without a second's thought."

2.0 shook her head, "What about Four."

"Four died in the rift. She came back and created me, as a precaution, and then tried to get through the rift. I couldn't save her."

"So you went back to the scientists, back to ask them what they found."

"A counter oscillating vero-pulse of 7.9 can activate the rift, open it for just a second. I brought them back with me, and they let me through."

"But... wait... how did _they_ get back?"

"Not me. Another Mark. With the TARDIS. I told them to keep their heads down until I came back to get them. Well. I guess it's _technically_ true... just... not _me_ me."

"Okay. Well, I'll get onto that."

"No. It wasn't you."

"_Who_ then, Mark-Six?"

"No. Mark-_One_. The original. The Alpha."

"Oh. Is she... is she who'll we become? When we fade?"

5.0 shrugged, "Does it matter? I don't know. But we have to keep her alive, just in case she is. Do you understand me, Myra, _Mark-One cannot die_."

She hesitated, thinking about it, "Okay. Okay. Alright. Now. We better get moving, we haven't got much time."

The other smirked, raising an eyebrow, "We've got half a billion years, Myra. We're fine."

"You've got half a billion years because you're crossing into _established events_." The Doctor shook his head, grabbing hold of 2.0 by the shoulders, urgently, "Myra, you have to stop this. You are _breaking apart __**reality**_."

"The hole will close itself once the Reapers have come to heal the wound." 5.0 said, shaking her head, "And that won't be long."

The Doctor turned his head, sharply, "Reapers?"

"What are _Reapers_?" Faye asked, frowning.

"You know what they are." 2.0 shook her head, slowly, "Healers. So to speak. Attracted to temporal paradoxes. Y'know. '_Father's Day_'." She drew in a deep, shaky breath, "Ooh, this is not good..."

5.0 raised an eyebrow, "Actually, it's perfect."

"_Why_?" the Doctor asked, shaking his head, incredulously.

"Because we need them."

"Why."

"_Oh_." 2.0 said, suddenly, slowly, realisation pumping through her, "We're gunna... _Are_ we? Are we _really_?"

"Oh yeah."

"Will that _work_?"

"Will _what_ work?" Faye asked, frustrated.

"It's like on a CD. You get a scratch and it can do nothing or it can wipe out a whole chunk of information. And if you knew exactly where a piece of information _was_..."

"You could wipe it out with the smallest cut." 5.0 completed, smiling a small, grim smile.

"_Why do you need the __**Reapers**_." The Doctor repeated, firmly.

5.0 shook her head, "We need them to sterilise a wound."

"_What_ wound."

She paused, and then looked up at him, showing him the box in her hand, "_This_ wound."

* * *


	25. Chapter 25: Complications

_Mbea's Trickster __**sayısı yirmi beş**__: 'Complications'. How more complicated could things possibly get with five different Myras, two different Fayes and two different TARDISes? Oh. __**That**__ complicated._

_Disclaimer - I do not own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 25 -**** Complications**

Myra got to her feet, quickly, "Everyone alright? Come on guys, speak to me, _Crystal_?"

"Sorry, yeah, I'm fine."

"Twilla?"

"Mmhmm."

"Enoch?"

"Yep."

"Colby?"

"Still here."

"Zita?"

"Fine."

"All fine. Good. Fantastic."

"What _was_ that thing?" Crystal asked, shakily.

Enoch shook his head, "I don't know. It moved too fast, I... I don't know."

"D'you think there's _more_ of them?"

"I don't know."

"It didn't look friendly, what did it want?"

"Uh... _us_? I'm sorry, I don't know, Miss Crystal."

"Myra?"

She was staring at the place where the thing had disappeared, intently, "I didn't see it properly." She frowned, "It looked almost like..." she paused, thinking, and then shook her head, firmly, pulling herself back together, "Never mind. Come on, let's go."

"Where we are going?"

"I've got the TARDIS. I'm taking you guys home. Wherever _that_ is." She turned to them, raising an expectant eyebrow, "You've got coordinates for your village? I'll take you to your doors. Well. Roughly. Come on."

* * *

"So we're back _here_ again..."

"Fantastic view, isn't it?"

2.0 shot her future self a small, grimly amused smile, "Can't beat never-ending sand..."

"Let's get out of the sun. C'mon."

They moved quickly towards the gravity platform, the Doctor close on their tails.

"Hey!"

They turned back. Mark-Two shook her head, immediately, "Oh, no no no, where'd you think _you're_ going?"

Faye raised an eyebrow, as if it was obvious, "I'm coming with you."

"Well, yeah, we can see that." Mark-Five replied, shaking her head, "And there's no way, Fi. Go back to the TARDIS."

"Like hell." She replied, stubbornly.

2.0 stood forwards and took a hold of her shoulder, "Fi, listen to me. We need someone to look after Maddie."

"Maddie's whacked out, I gave her some sedative."

"_What_? Are you sure it was sedative?"

She raised an eyebrow, sceptically, "Well, it was a kind of big red injection-looking thing with the word 'sedative' written in big black letters across the side, so, yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"You _sedated_ your _daughter_?"

"Yes I did."

"Well. _That's_ active parenting."

Faye shrugged, "Keeps her quiet."

The Doctor was smiling slightly, "Well, that's one way I suppose."

"Oi, don't _you_ start." She turned back to her sister, urgently, "What are you _doing_. This could be _dangerous_, this _**is**__ dangerous_, and you've got a _daughter_ to think about, you've got someone that needs you safe."

"What, and you haven't?"

She stopped, looking at her. She glanced at 5.0, and the expression on her face was just the same. She looked back at Faye again, "I'm sorry. I just... I didn't..."

"_Think_?" she completed, raising an eyebrow, angry again, "Yeah, I know, that's _very_ clear." She took a step forwards and put a hand on her arm, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Myra."

She shrunk back a bit, suddenly uncomfortable, "Oh, Fi, don't - don't do that, you've got Jean. You've got Maddie. And what about Mum, you've gotta look after her."

"_We've_ gotta look after her." She corrected, firmly, "And that's the end of it. I'm _coming with you_. Keeping you out of trouble." She started walking along the sand, "Come on. Which way."

The two Myra's glanced at each other, and then shook their heads, turning back to the platform, "_This_ way..."

* * *

"What about you?"

Myra looked at the girl for a second, and then shook her head, "I don't know. I know I'm supposed to be... _somewhere_. I know I'm supposed to do _something_, but according to Mark-Five I have to figure it out for myself."

Crystal smiled, "Oh, of course. No fun otherwise."

She echoed her smile, "I'll figure it out sooner or later. I'll have to."

"What d'you think it is?"

She raised her eyebrows, letting out a breath and shaking her head, "Well... I don't know. I know I have to do _some_thing. I can't just stay here, I have to go back."

"Go back where?"

"To the caves. I have to go down into the caves and find them, I _have_ to, I can't sit around and let this happen."

"Let _what_ happen?"

"A future self saved my life. And she _died_, she let the anthromorph absorb her, she _died_ to save me." She shook her head, slowly, drawing in a long, slow breath, "This whole thing... is getting out of hand. Very, very quickly. Everyone's gunna die. Everything... everything..." she trailed off, frowning slightly, thinking carefully, "Everything's... getting out of hand..."

Crystal looked her up and down, quickly, "What's wrong."

"Nothing. _Nothing's_ wrong. Except..." she paused, and then shook her head, "I think I know what she's doing. I think I've figured out the plan." She paused again, and then nodded, now completely sure, "Yeah. I've figured it out. Oh... _Oh_, I'm clever. I am _very_ good."

The girl looked at her, smiling slightly, "Modesty, anyone?"

"But... why would I _do_ that? So many deaths..."

"Deaths?"

"Of _me_. Except... except it's not me I'm killing, is it. Not really." she glanced up at her, quickly, "Could I do that? Is that... _Could_ I?"

Crystal looked at her for a moment, and then shook her head, "Now, Miss Hull, I don't know what's going on. But... you told me that this... _anthromorph_... _**thing**_... it's gunna kill. It'll kill all of us, all of this village, all of this _world_. And it won't stop there, will it? It'll keep travelling, keep killing, and that... that _Paradox Machine_ will let him keep going. _Forever_. Is that right."

Myra looked at her, and then nodded, "Yes." She replied, quietly.

"Well. I don't think you really have a choice, then. _Do_ you."

She shook her head, "No. I don't." there was a pause, and then she shook her head again, "But if I'm right... then that thing that attacked us... that was a _Reaper_. Which is very, very bad..."

"Why, what's a Reaper?"

She didn't reply, instead turning to her, sharply, "Change of plan, don't go home, have you got a church nearby?"

She shook her head, "Hello, _theocracy_. Of course we've got churches. We're got six here, ten more in the next village along, Pico."

"Fantastic, which one's the oldest."

"Uh... _Čessaro_, I think. About a mile that way."

"Great, fantastic, get there as quick as you can, spread the word, I want _every_one in those churches, you hear me, the older the better."

"_Why_, Myra, what are Reapers, what will they do?"

"Trust me, you don't have much time, just sound the alarm, okay?"

"But what about _you_?"

"I'm the Alpha. The Original. The source of all this. I'm the only one that can stop it. Just do as I say, listen to me, you've gotta hide, okay? Just get in the church and sit tight, this thing won't take long, it'll all be over soon, I promise you."

Crystal raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? Who told you that?"

She shot her a small smile, "_I_ did."

* * *

"Myra."

"Yeah?" they both asked, glancing at her.

Faye hesitated, "No, I meant... _new_ Myra."

"Oh, that's me. What's up."

"You said you needed the Reapers to sterilise a wound. But _which_ wound? You've made so many... haven't you? I mean with the whole _crossing your personal timeline_ thing."

"Yeah. A lot more than you think. At my point we've ripped open around... _six_? I dunno, hard to keep count, quite a few, though."

2.0 nodded, slowly, "Should be enough chaos, don't you think?"

"Enough for _what_?" Faye asked, frowning.

5.0 hesitated, and then shook her head, "Never mind. In answer to your question, however... this is gunna make another hole. An even _bigger_ hole." She looked at her for a second, meaningfully, "The biggest hole there can be. The biggest paradox."

Realisation passed through her eyes in a flash: "You mean..."

5.0 nodded, slowly, "Yes." She moved her eyes onto the Doctor, who met her gaze, silently. "Doctor. Do you know what we're going to do."

"_Going_ to do." He repeated, impassively, "So you've decided, then? Do I not get a choice?"

She didn't hesitate, and her voice showed no emotion: "No."

2.0, however, hesitated, looking back and forth between them, "Of _course_ you've got a choice. But it's the only way, Doctor."

"Who says that?"

5.0 shook her head, "Have _you_ got a plan? Well? I'm waiting."

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't say a word.

"Well then."

"Oi." Mark-Two said, looking at her future self, firmly, "Cool it. I know you're scared, just... calm down."

"I'm not _scared_. I'm on a _time_ limit. We have to get this done. _Now_." She glanced back, "Doctor, what time is it."

He raised an eyebrow and then looked at a watch on his wrist, "_Well_, Myra... it is eleven-oh-six. Why, d'you have somewhere you need to be?"

"Don't get sarky with me." Then she shook her head, "She should be here by now."

"Who?" Faye asked, frowning.

She didn't reply, looking around her. Then her eyes widened and she took a few quick steps away, "Get back! Now!"

Myra glanced at her and then pushed Faye out the way with one hand and moved the Doctor back with an arm, "Do as she says, _now_!"

They all moved backwards, and then she heard it, the whirring of the time rotor, the arrival of another TARDIS. They all watched as it shimmered into view, flickered and jutted into the cavern.

A smile spread across 5.0's face, "Now that's more like it."

But 2.0 was shaking her head, slowly, "No. There's something wrong."

She was right. The ship had barely touched the floor before a tremor rocketed through it, a shimmer passing over the wood, and then, abruptly, it disappeared.

5.0's smile dropped, "Wait, what was that. What... where's it gone, what happened."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, smiling a small, triumphant smile, "_Me_, I would think. Past me would know I couldn't meet myself, would have taken precautions as soon as your other mark came to pick me up."

"The HADS." 2.0 said, slowly, "You activated it."

Anger sparked up in 5.0's eyes, "_Doctor_ -"

"If I met myself it would be against Gallifreyan law." He replied, coldly, "And I'm not going to do that."

She shook her head, anger now obvious in her expression, "Oh yes, 'Defender of the Laws of Time', I forgot. But you listen here, _Doctor_. I don't _care_...about your _Laws of Time_. And with the Time Lords gone there's hardly going to be anyone around to _enforce _them, _is_ there?"

"_Stop_ it!" 5.0 looked round at her, quickly, and Mark-Two shook her head, disgustedly, "What is _wrong_ with you."

"Millions of people are going to _die_." She replied, just as firm, "Do you _want_ that?"

"Of _course_ I don't!" she turned back to the Doctor, quickly, "Doctor _what_... do we _do_."

He shook his head, perfectly calm, "Give me some time. That's all I ask, I'll _think_ of something, just... give me some time."

"We don't _have_ time." 5.0 said, coldly, "And it's not up to you, Doctor. 'Cause, guess what?" she held up the box around her neck, raising an eyebrow, "I've got a remote control."

"_No_!"

She rammed the button down with the palm of the hand. A sound like electronic lightning flashed through the air and light burned through their retinas. Myra recoiled, putting an arm over her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut. Then the dim glow faded, and she opened her eyes, tentatively, lowering her arm.

There was someone lying crouched on the floor, doubled up, weight braced on her arms on the floor. She was wearing a thick, almost suede-like dress, dark violet with a square neck. Her head was down, brown hair spilling over her face, panting.

The girl raised a shaking hand to her head, and then put it back down, quickly ripping something that looked like a thick black strap off her wrist and throwing it away from her with terrified passion. Then she paused, and glanced up.

5.0's eyes widened, "What..."

The girl shook her head, "No."

"What the hell..."

She stumbled to her feet, clawing at the rocky wall, shaking her head, vehemently, "_Oh_ no."

"_What are __**you**__ doing here_?"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me..."

* * *


	26. Chapter 26: A New Mark

_Mbea's Trickster __**dvacet šest**__: 'A New Mark'. The new Myra turns out to be more than a little unprepared, and a trick is revealed._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who_

* * *

**Chapter 26 -**** A New Mark**

The new Myra shook her head, "Okay, right, explain what's going on _right_ now." They all just stared at her, and then she turned to the Doctor, quickly, "Doctor? Doctor, what the hell's going on?"

"She's not the right mark." Faye said, suddenly, looking her up and down, "Is she. She's not from the right time."

"_Faye_?" she asked, incredulously, "What... How... What are you... _doing_ here?"

"Myra, listen to me." 2.0 said, gently, "I'm sorry. You've been taken out of time. You're in the future. Almost fifty thousand _years_ in future."

She looked around her, "And _where_, Kentucky?"

The Doctor shook his head, nonplussed, "Why would you be in Kentucky?"

"Well, the _Mammoth_ Cave." She replied, uncertainly, "You know, biggest cave system in the world?"

He looked at her, and then shook his head again, "You think you're in _Kentucky_?"

"Well where _are_ we, then?"

Mark-Five shook her head, "You're on another world."

"You're on _Mbea_, Myra." 2.0 said, looking at her, carefully, "Heard of it?"

"No."

"Not _yet_, anyway..."

Myra looked at them both, and then shook her head, almost desperately, "Please, _one_ of you, tell me what's going on. Why... why am I here. And... y'know..." she nodded at her, uneasily, "_There_."

"And here?" 2.0 asked, smiling slightly, "Well, we're trying to break a hole through the fabric of reality, destroy a very specific causal nexus."

She raised an eyebrow, "Uh... _why_?"

"_God_ knows..." Faye muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

5.0 glanced at her and then back to the girl, "Just, you're gunna have to trust us, okay?" she turned back to 2.0, "But this one doesn't even recognise the _planet_. She's from that hospital, St Mary's hospital, Chichester, that's where she's from, yeah?"

"That means she's even more original than the _original_. What does that make her, then, Mark-_Minus One_?"

"I guess so..." the two eyed each other up, and then 5.0 shook her head, "This is... this is _wrong_."

"You think _this_ is wrong?" 2.0 asked, incredulously, "After all we've done?"

"They had to be done. _This_ is _wrong_."

"How do you know _that_?"

"I just... I just _do_, okay?"

"No. _Not_ okay. What's going on."

She hesitated, and then shook her head, turning her back to the new mark, lowering her voice: "Mark-Six was supposed to bring the Doctor. Only the Doctor. But she brought _her_. _Why_. And she had the _TARDIS_, why send this one by the teleport pack."

"Mark-Six will know things you don't." she replied, firmly, "She'll be ahead of you. Maybe she's got her reasons."

"Reasons she's managed to _hide_ from me? I can see everything else, Myra, why not this."

"I _don't know_. But maybe you should just trust yourself for once." She turned back to -1.0, taking a step towards her, "D'you know how you got here?"

"No. The last thing I remember... I was in St Mary's hospital. I was mid-sentence when someone... came up behind me, strapped _that_ thing on my wrist and... I dunno, knocked me out, or something. I woke up here with one hell of a headache."

"Time travel without a capsule." She replied, looking at her, concernedly, "How are you feeling?"

She smiled, grimly, "Like last night I inhaled two gallons of whisky."

2.0 echoed the smile, "Not too bad, then. Come here, let me have a look."

"I'm fine."

She raised an eyebrow, and then motioned to her. -1.0 looked at her for a moment, and then nodded, reluctantly, and took a few steps forward. 2.0 put her hands on the girl's face, looking at her eyes, carefully, "Looks okay to me. Just... take it slow."

"Do you have any idea why she didn't bring you here herself?" Mark-Five asked, frowning, "I mean, why she sent you by the teleport pack instead of the TARDIS?"

"I didn't have a choice."

* * *

They spun around. 2.0 raised her eyebrows, "Who are _you_?"

"Mark-Six." She replied, giving them a small, casual salute, "Nice to meet ya. Sorry about the confusion just then, we had a bit of a problem passenger."

"The Doctor?" 5.0 asked, urgently, "Where is he?"

She frowned, "He's exactly where you _told_ me to put him."

"I told you to bring him _here_."

"Uh, _no_, you told me to leave him at these exact coordinates." She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket, handing it to her, "You were very persistent."

5.0 ripped it open, looking them over. She paused, reading it through carefully, and then showed it to 2.0, "This is our handwriting. Did _you_ write this?"

"No. Did _you_?"

"No."

"Three, Four?"

"No."

"The _Alpha_, then, maybe?"

"No."

2.0 hesitated, looking at her, "Then who _did_?"

"They said they were Mark-Five." 6.0 said, raising an eyebrow, "That's you, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I didn't write this."

"Well maybe you write it in the future." Faye suggested, shaking her head.

"Yes. Or... maybe..."

"The anthromorph." The Doctor completed, suddenly looking very alive, "It knows what you're doing."

"And so tried to keep the other you away..." 2.0 completed, slowly, "He turned up to _you_ pretending to be Mark-Five and told pick up the past Doctor and hide him away, and then waited for _you_ and just pretended to be Mark-_Six_."

"Well. He's a _clever_ one, isn't he?"

6.0 nodded, slowly. "Yes. And we played right into his hands."

"And now he's got the Doctor."

"But we don't need him," 2.0 said, suddenly, "Not with _us_ here. Am I right?"

"What d'you mean?" the Doctor asked, frowning.

"Well, we've already got a paradox of four Myras, surely that's enough?"

"We'd need the Alpha." Mark-Six replied, shaking her head, "To make a big enough tear, we'd _definitely_ need the original."

"Won't _she_ do?" she asked, motioning at Mark-Minus One, "Isn't _she_ technically the original?"

"No, we need Mark-One, she's the _true_ original. She's the one who started this, she's the only one that can end it."

"I thought technically _I_ started it." 2.0 said, raising an eyebrow, "I mean, I went back to her. I started this, didn't I?"

6.0 hesitated, and then shook her head, "It's... complicated. But we need a full run, as well as an anomaly. Minus One, One and Two. And then us."

"Then we better go _find_ her then."

"It's not that simple."

5.0 frowned, "_Why_?"

6.0 sighed, shaking her head, "Because she's gone after the anthromorph."

"What? _Why_?"

"But you said if the Alpha dies you _all_ die." Faye said, sharply. The Myras met eyes, and she caught the glance, shaking her head, "We've gotta help her."

"Why has she gone for the anthromorph." 2.0 asked, slowly.

"She's gone to try and stop this. She thinks... she doesn't... she doesn't like the plan."

"The plan will _work_." 5.0 insisted.

"Oh, she doesn't doubt that. She doesn't _want_ it to."

"But _why_?" she repeated, frustrated.

"Moral obligation?"

"_Moral obligation_? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're _killing_." The Doctor replied, raising an eyebrow, "And she wants it to stop." He gave a small smile, "Now _that's_ my Myra."

"We're _all_ Myra." Mark-Five said, coldly.

"No. No, I don't think you are."

"But how do you _know_ all this?" 2.0 asked, shaking her head.

6.0 shrugged, "I don't. I _remembered_." 2.0 raised an eyebrow and she smiled, shaking her head, "Wibbly-wobbly -"

5.0 shook her head, "Timey-wimey, yeah, whatever. But if _you_ can remember how come _we_ can't."

"I don't know. Maybe you don't _want_ to."

"Why?"

She shrugged again, "'Cause it would mess with your plan?"

"The Alpha's the original." 2.0 said, slowly, "We need her. That's the end of it."

"Then we better get out looking for her."

"Less talk, more action. Come on. _Now_."

* * *


	27. Chapter 27: Don’t Fear the Reapers

_Mbea's Trickster __**kaksikymmentäseitsemän**__: 'Don't Fear the Reapers'. Plans formed and plans broken. People found and people lost. Allies and enemies, and those who are a bit of both. Myra's too clever for her own good and the Reapers are becoming a more prominent problem. That's the wonderful world of space travel._

Doctor Who © BBC

* * *

**Chapter 27 -**** Don't Fear the Reapers**

The Alpha turned back to the controls, fighting with the statio-temporal inhibitor, flicking switches on the desk beside her, choosing the right ones by memory alone.

"Where are we _going_?"

"The others are going for the Doctor. The _new_ Doctor, _another_ Doctor, Doctor Mark-Two. I'm going straight for the anthromorph."

"_Why_?"

She shook her head, grimly, "I have to stop this now, Faye. This can't keep going. The Doctor wouldn't let it and neither will I."

A loud ringing bell sounded, and Myra deftly ignored it. Faye glanced up at the roof, distractedly, "Can't you shut that thing off?"

"It's an automated system - I managed to make it less frequent but I can't turn it off."

"What _is_ it?"

"It's the Cloister Bell."

"Sounds kinda like a church bell. Y'know, like in cathedrals."

"Yeah. The Cloister Bell warns of oncoming threats, holes in time, great historical events. It's used in utmost emergencies. The paradoxes will have it sounding until the holes heal themselves, there's nothing I can do."

Faye moved over to her, stopping just before touching her, wary of the TARDIS controls, "Myra, tell me, _please_. What's going on. What's gunna happen, what's that... that _box_ thing?"

She took the box off her neck and put it on the console, taking the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and pushing it inside, "This... is a Heliotrion energy scanner. With a few modifications. Pass me the carrisetic manipulator."

Faye looked around her, absentmindedly, "The what?"

She shook her head, juggling with the box, the screwdriver and a quantum-gyrojenetisist and trying to stop a coil of wire slipping down from around her neck, "There. Right there. Behind you, behind you, behind you... yep, that's it, bring it here. Hold still."

She screwed a tap-plug into the manipulator, carefully, leaning down so she could see it properly.

Faye looked down at her, warily, "How d'you know all this."

"Well... the anthromorph obviously didn't know the TARDIS as well as he thought. A human taking on a Time Lord's brain would get burned up within a matter of hours. All that information, all those places, planets, stars, galaxies, it would kill them."

"But not the TARDIS?"

"The anthromorph thought the TARDIS would be small enough for me to take it, at least for a little while. He was right, more or less, I've survived a hell of a lot longer than I should have. But he forgot one thing."

"What?"

"The TARDIS isn't any old ship. Knowing the ins and outs of the TARDIS, _all_ of it... It's immense, Fi, all of it's just... too much. Too much for _me_, anyway." She gave a small, grim laugh, tightening the plug with a flourish, "At least the Doctor has the luxury of forgetting things. The TARDIS is just going round and round in my head, I can't get rid of it. I have to get the anthromorph to take it out, or I'm gunna die."

"You're not gunna die, don't speak like that."

"'S'all good, I've got a plan. Well. _We've_ got a plan."

"And this plan would be...?"

She shook her head, deflecting the question, concentrating on the manipulator: "Where's Maddie?"

"Put her to bed. Fifth room on the right."

She glanced up at her, "That's Rose's room."

"That _was_ Rose's room."

She nodded and looked back down, "Try telling _him_ that..."

"Myra, _answer_ me."

Myra paused for a second, and then shook her head, turning her back and moving quickly over to the other side of the TARDIS, "The anthromorph attacked the Trickster. It wanted to absorb him, but it never managed to finish osmosis. But with the _Paradox_ Machine the anthromorph can absorb whatever it wants. The Trickster wants the anthromorph and the anthromorph wants the Trickster."

"So?"

"So... if we're very clever about this... if we're very very clever... then we won't need to fight this at _all_."

Faye stopped, looking at her for a second, and then moved over to her in quick, furious strides, "You're gunna put them _against_ each other?"

"Oh yes."

"But... _how_?"

"I was supposed to go in for the Trickster. Go to him and explain what was happening, give him a deal. Pretend to take sides with him. Mark-Five was gunna go in for the anthromorph, do the same thing."

"But how would you _get_ the Trickster here? Is there a sort of... _summons_?"

Myra laughed, shaking her head, "No. No, all you have to do is place some bait."

"Bait?"

"Think about it. What would attract the Trickster's Brigade."

"Chaos."

"Exactly."

"So... the crossing your personal time line... all the paradoxes... they were to attract the Trickster?"

"Yeah. More or less."

"But these paradoxes... I thought that time usually just, like, _healed_ itself. That it automatically corrected itself, smoothed out the time lines."

"Yes, usually. It's called the Blinovitch Limitation Effect."

"Blinovitch?"

"Yeah. It's all about... causality and effect... temporal destiny... chronic hysteresis..."

"English?"

"Time loops. It's basically... the laws of time. But the Paradox Machine and the other Marks have messed it up. We messed it up. The Marks started tearing holes in reality to get the Trickster's attention. Except it wasn't working. It _isn't_ working. There's plenty more chaos around the galaxies that's much more easily accessible. So the next thing they'll do is try to bring in a _full_ paradox, a line of three or more synced with physical contact. That would cause too much chaos for the Trickster to ignore."

Faye looked at her, "But a full paradox would let the Reapers in, wouldn't it?"

"Exactly. The third element. I was supposed to strike a deal with the Trickster to join forces and the Reapers would serve as a time limit. He would have to agree before the Reapers destroyed everything on Mbea, sterilised the time wound, then there would be nothing for his Brigade _left_."

"That's... that's mad. That's... that's too many _variables_, how were you going to _do_ this?"

"It was very thought out, I'm assuming. I think Mark-Four had a lot to do with it. They figured it out, thought it through, thought out every angle."

"You're playing a dangerous game, My, what if one of you failed?"

"Don't call me My. And another would take their place. A new Mark. That's why there's so many of us. The last one failed, try again, trial and error. But it's also why there's so _few_ of us." She stopped adjusting the scanner and looked at her, "We're all dying."

"You're... you're _killing_ yourself."

She shook her head, grimly, pulling up a section of the grated floor by her feet and hopping down into the storage and rummaging through the many boxes below, "Yep. One life, each time, the first dies, then the next, create a new one and _that_ dies, go back in time, get another one, keep messing up history, try and make the Trickster's Brigade show its face whilst at the same time keeping an eye out for the Reapers."

"Risky."

"Worth it. At least, that's what Mark-Five thought. _And_ Mark-Four."

"But not you."

She paused for a second, straightening a little so her back was leaning against the metal, "It won't just be me we're killing. It won't just be the next Myra. If the Reapers break in... they'll consume this whole _world_."

"_What_?" she asked, incredulously, "But... but they _can't_."

"They can. And they will." She looked at the console, thoughtfully, listening to its hum, "They planned it out so meticulously. Every little detail. The paradoxes, the anthromorph, the Reapers, the Trickster's Brigade. The perfect plan, nothing could possibly go wrong."

"So why isn't it going ahead?"

She paused for a moment, thinking, and then shook her head, pulling a box off the floor and pushing it up onto the grating, pulling herself up with it, "Because something went wrong."

She picked the box back up and dumped it on the chair by the console, searching through it.

"What?"

She turned, looking at her, "_Me_."

* * *

"Where is she, have you found her?"

"Not a sign. And I can't find the anthromorph, either."

5.0 shook her head, frustrated, "Goddammit... What is she _doing_?"

"She's stopping _you_." The Doctor replied, almost sharply, "And good for her. At least _one_ of you can see what you're doing."

"This will _work_, Doctor." 5.0 said, firmly, "But not without _her_. Where _is_ she."

"The Reapers have reached the village."

2.0 moved round the console, quickly, looking at the monitor over Faye's shoulder, "Where?"

Her sister pointed silently at the screen. Bat-like creatures with four long, hooked arms and mouths on their chests flew over the village, flinging themselves at churches and houses, trying to tear them open.

2.0 glanced at the other, frowning slightly, shaking her head, "We have to help them."

"The Alpha told them to stay in their churches. They'll be fine there."

"Yeah, but that was nearly a billion _years_ ago."

"She told them that this would happen in the future, that they would have to pass it down, generation to generation. They're ready."

"_Still_, it's a _billion __**years**_! _Think_ about it, how much have _we_ still got from a billion years ago back on Earth? How many stories do _we_ know?"

"It's the best we can do, Myra, I'm sorry."

But 2.0 shook her head, looking at her, still with that slight frown, "You didn't... you didn't even _warn_ them."

"There are twenty-six thousand two hundred and eleven people in that village, Myra!" The Doctor said, anger burning inside of him, "Over _twenty-five __**thousand**_, and they're all gunna _die_, how could you _do_ that to them?!"

"Be quiet, Doctor. It's the only way. This saves more lives."

"What, kill a few, save a lot?" 2.0 asked, incredulously, "This is twenty-six thousand _people_, Myra! What the hell are you _doing_?"

"You mean what are _you_ doing." She replied, coldly, "You started this, Myra. You're the one who thought this up."

"Well then _I'm _gunna be the one to stop it! This is... _insane_! What _right_ have you got to condemn those people to death? I can't, I can't go through with this."

She shook her head, "You don't have a _choice_. We're too far into this, Myra. There's no turning back now."

She looked at her for a second. Her eyes moved onto the screen, to the Reapers circling the village, seeking out their prey. Then she looked back at 5.0. She nodded, slowly, and then turned her back on the monitor, moving her attention back onto the TARDIS. She'd find something else to keep her mind on, but no way was that the end of it. Not a chance in hell.

* * *

"The Reapers have reached the village."

The Alpha moved round the console, quickly, looking at the monitor over Faye's shoulder, "Where?"

Her sister pointed at the screen. The Reapers swarmed over the village, slashing their claws down buildings and then smashing themselves against them in something close to frustration.

Myra sat back in the chair, nodding, grimly, "Right. I knew it. They went right back to where the first paradox was created."

"How long will the churches last?"

"I don't know, exactly. Days, not hours. They're fine, so long as they keep the doors and windows shut."

"They're safe?"

"Yeah. For now. They won't be in danger for another nine million years."

"What?"

She didn't reply, instead moving back around the console again, "Right, time to get out of here."

"Wait, we're not... _leaving_ them... are we?"

"They're safe, Fi, I promise you. I wouldn't leave them unless I was sure of that. But if we don't go now we're just wasting time, time that they're stuck in those churches with all of Hell knocking on the doors. So come on. We need to get moving."

A shrill bell started sounding and she moved quickly, "Whoa, whoa, what's going on?"

"What's that?"

"Proximity alert." She pulled the monitor round to her and started typing, "Let's see, let me just..."

She flicked a lever and then froze. There was a Reaper outside. Faye's eyes widened and she took a few steps back, opening her mouth. Myra immediately darted over to her, pushing her hand over her mouth, "Shh. Quiet."

She waited, and then, very slowly, moved her hand over to the console, and flicked down the deadlock seal. A clunk ran through the TARDIS, and the Reaper swooped back a bit, angrily, and then continued darting around them.

Myra stayed very still barely breathing, listening closely. Squawks and screeches sounded from outside, and scratching sounds, as if it was trying to break through the walls. Her eyes followed the noises around them, turning silently as it circled the ship. She frowned as nothing further happened, and then shook her head, slowly, "It could take us in a second, what's it waiting for?"

Faye looked at her, "_What_?" she breathed, urgently.

"The paradoxes would have let it in. So why isn't it just breaking through?"

She let out a small, strangled laugh, "Just be glad it's _not_." She paused for a moment, thinking, "Does it know we're here?"

"It can smell our blood." Myra ran a hand across her forehead, feeling the half-congealed wound by her hairline. Another line of blood trickled down from the corner of her mouth. She'd woken up with it in the caves; must've cracked her head on the rock after the anthromorph had 'shot' her. She gave a small, grim smile, "It can smell _my_ blood."

"So... why's it not..." Fi nodded at the walls, not wanting to say it."

"I don't know. Unless..." she looked around her, thinking quickly, "This is the original TARDIS. The Mark-One, the _Alpha_. The others are copies. This one's pure."

"_Meaning_?"

"Meaning maybe _this_ one's the one they want." She thought again, and then shook her head, slowly, "We have to get out of here." She snapped her head round to Faye, "_Now_!"

She yanked the handbrake without having set a location and the TARDIS thudded into action, flying jerkily into the air, swerving out of the Reaper's reach and spinning like a top. The movement had thrown Myra to the floor but she pulled herself to her feet and quickly started tapping buttons and pulling levers, "Right, now! Let's go find ourselves an anthromorph!"

* * *

They materialised deep in Mbea's catacombs, the year 52000. Myra glanced over the monitor, quickly, and then, satisfied, grabbed the Doctor's coat off the coral pillar along with the head scarf Crystal had given her and then walked quickly out the door.

Pulling on the coat, she heard Faye shut the door behind her, and knew better than to tell her to stay behind. She slid the scarf over her hair, tucking it into the neck of the trench coat, "Come on. We have to find him before they do."

"Who's 'they'?"

"Me."

"Huh?"

"I mean the _other_ me. Marks Two and Five."

"Okay, and why are you fighting against yourself, again?"

"Because I have to. This way."

"How d'you know where you're going?"

"Listen. Can you hear that?"

"Yeah, like... like... _singing_."

"Farons. They live in extraordinarily hot places. Their song is captivating to Humans."

Faye had stopped, and she turned her head to the sound, "It's... _beautiful_."

"They sing and unsuspecting Humans follow the song, fall to their deaths, burn to cinders."

She paused, listening, and then frowned, seeing to finally register what she said, and turned, "What?"

Myra smiled, "They burn you to cinders. Beautiful, aren't they?"

She paused again, and then shook her head, snapping herself out of it.

She smiled again, "That's better."

"Well, the wonderful world of space travel, right? As a very wise ship mechanic once said. The prettier it looks, the more likely it is to kill you."

She smiled again, "You're right. The wonderful world of space travel..."

"Speaking of getting killed."

* * *

She turned around sharply, and the other Myra raised an eyebrow, "_You_ could be if you keep wandering around this place on your own. We've been looking for you everywhere! Come on, let's get going."

"Which one are you?" Faye asked, cautiously, looking her up and down.

"Mark-Five. Now come on, we've gotta go."

"We're not going _any_where, we know _exactly_ what you're going to do."

"Then come back with us, just come back. We'll talk it over, we want your side of it as much as _any_one's. And we need your help, Myra."

"_Don't_... waste my time." Myra replied, suddenly, sharply, anger smouldering in her voice, "_Anthromorph_."

Faye's eyes widened, "_What_?"

Mark-Five shook her head, incredulously, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're the anthromorph."

"Myra, you're _crazy_! It's _me_, I'm _Mark-Five_, remember?"

"Oh, don't play that game with me, I _know_ who you are! So stop wasting my goddamned time and get this over with, _okay_?"

She looked at her for a second, and then shook her head, "How did you know. _This_ time."

Myra shook her head, grimly, "I'm the _Alpha_, anthromorph. I can recognise my own kind. Also. You said 'come with _us_'. Not 'me'. You screwed up."

"Maybe we did." Myra morphed away until Doctor Sedley was standing before her. He raised an eyebrow, "I presume you know this was my chosen form?"

"Yep. Y'know, you were lucky, back in the hospital if the Doctor hadn't been there I'd have punched you in the face."

"Why?" Faye asked, frowning.

"He told me to try and _control_ myself when I answered for the Doctor."

Her sister took in a slow, mocking hiss of breath, "Oh, mate, not a good move."

"No, it _wasn't_, really."

Sedley smiled slightly, "We were merely acting as any other sixteenth century human would, Myra. We couldn't rouse your suspicions _too_ early."

Myra raised an eyebrow, "_Really_? Y'know what, anthromorph, it seems to me that the more time you spend in that human form of yours, the more of our nature you seem to... _absorb_, so to speak." She looked at him, smiling, curiously, "Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit _more_ human."

He looked at her for a second, and then shook his head, "You came looking for us. When you were supposed to be approaching the _Trickster_. Why."

She shook her head, casually, "Well, I found myself a loophole. I _am_ approaching a Trickster. Just not the one they thought. _Mbea's_ Trickster."

"Mbea's Trickster..." the anthromorph repeated, thoughtfully, "But _why_."

"Can't you guess? _You've_ been inside my head, don't you _know_?" he just looked at her, and she shook her head again, "C'mon. Educated guess. Try it."

He looked at her for a second, and then shook his head, slowly, "You came to us when you should have been approaching the Trickster."

"Yes."

"You betrayed your kind. Your copies."

"Yes."

"Because... you don't agree with what they're doing? But... _why_?"

"There are over twenty-five thousand people in that village. And the other Marks are letting them be torn into shreds by the Reapers. They gave them no warning." She looked at him for a second, "You know me. Did you really think I could put up with that? Let it by?"

Sedley paused, looking at her, and then smiled, "Of course not. You're too..."

"Human?"

"Yes. That's it." He looked at her for a second, and then smiled again, "So why are you here. What do you want from us."

"The others are going to strike a deal with the Trickster. They're going to lead him to you, to let _him_ absorb _you_ before _you_ can absorb _him_. That will seal the rifts and close off the paradoxes. We'll all dissolve, everything will stop."

"But you don't even want it to happen _now_. You don't want it to _ever_ happen."

"Yes. So what _I'm_ gunna do, is get you out of here. I'm gunna close down the paradox machine. Time will reverse itself. The Blinovitch Effect will deal with everything here, all the paradoxes, all the holes, all the dead. Everything will sort itself out."

"And _us_?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You'll still be able to remember it. To remember _everything_. So I can't leave you... without you _swearing_... that you won't cause trouble for the villagers."

"The _villagers_?"

"You won't have the Trickster's powers any more. Time will revert right back to before you joined the Brigade, before you attacked the Trickster. That was the first paradox. You won't be able to jump through time anymore."

He frowned slightly, "I'll be stranded here."

"But alive." She replied, looking at him, perfectly seriously, "It's that or nothing, anthromorph. How much do you _value_ your life? Enough to stay here? To strand yourself on this planet? 'Cause I _will_ come back if I hear you've been causing trouble in the village, and this time I won't be so kind." She looked at him for a moment, and then shook her head, "Well?"

The anthromorph paused, thinking, "And in this hypothetical plan of yours, what would be the first step?"

"You taking the TARDIS out of my head. I can't keep it contained for much longer. I'm gunna burn."

"And if I refused?"

"Then I would go to the Doctor and he would wipe everything from my mind, completely clean, and then I wouldn't _care_ about the villagers, _or_ the paradoxes, _or __**you**_. And the Trickster will consume you and the Reapers will consume the world, all of Mbea, and _nothing_ will have changed." She looked at him for a moment, "So. What d'you say. Do we have a deal."

He looked at her for a second, smiling with amused suspicion, and then shook his head, "You are really quite astounding, Myra Hull."

"Fantastic, thanks for the compliment, yes or no, anthromorph."

"A deal with a human..." he paused, and then shook his head again, "No, I don't think so."

She took an angry step back, shaking her head, "This is your last chance, anthromorph, don't think you'll be able to -" she stopped, abruptly. She shook her head again, fear and caution sparking up inside of her, backing away slightly, "Wait. You said 'I'. When did you start saying 'I'. When did you start speaking in singular."

He smiled, "You're a clever girl, Myra. _Far_ too clever." He leant towards her and she immediately backed away, "Can you see it, Myra? Can you feel it? The TARDIS, the turn of the universe, can you feel it?"

She shook her head, looking at him, feeling the pain in her head increasing, lifting a hand to brush her hair, her temple, press down on her forehead.

"You're burning up, Myra Hull. I think you need a _Doctor_."

Faye had grabbed her shoulders, was trying to pull her away, "My? _Myra_. Come on, can you hear me?"

She shook her off, putting her arm out and into her chest, pushing her away, back, pain burning through her, "Anthromorph..."

"'Cause, you know what, it wasn't just the _TARDIS_, I put in you. Did you know that? Did you _realise_ that? I also put in something else. On a timer." He took a fob watch out of his pocket, a round, silver fob watch with thin, delicate engravings. He popped it open and glanced at the time, and then looked up at her, "It's... two fourteen. So you've got... just over fifteen minutes left until it activates. Until it burns right through your mind. Two thirty."

"You can't kill me." She managed, wincing in pain, forcing the words through gritted teeth, "I made you. I'm the original."

"I know. I can't absorb you. But I can take _her_."

Myra spun around to her, too late. A shadow passed across the rock, a shadow shaped like a man, and it grabbed her, grabbed Faye, pulling her back. Attempts her sister made to throw him off were in vain, she was fighting air, she was fighting a shadow. But still she fought, still she struggled, grabbing hold of the rocky walls, thrashing around, until she disappeared with a scream.

* * *

Myra fell back against the rock. Her shallow breaths were all she could hear in her head. The shadow had disappeared but her eyes were still locked onto where they had stood. She lifted up her hand, holding it out. Then she put it back down again. She could feel her heart beat in her throat.

"Myra?"

She didn't reply, gave no indication of having heard him.

She felt him move closer, "Myra. Better get moving now. Haven't got long."

She turned her head to him, her eyes searching out his, urgently. She didn't say a word.

The anthromorph shook his head, almost patronisingly, and moved closer to her again, "_Myra_, you've got to _listen_ to us. _Listen_ to us, okay? You have got... thirteen minutes until your whole mind goes bye-bye, but, _before_ that... Hear them? Can you hear them, Myra?"

Myra turned her head again. Screeches. Scratches. Fumbling, the beating of wings in a small space.

"That's the Reapers, Myra. You wanna get out of here alive, don't you? You need to head back to your _TARDIS_, then, _don't_ you?" She didn't reply, and he took hold of her chin, forcing her face back to his, firmly, "_Don't you_."

She paused, and then nodded, quickly, _too_ quickly.

He let go of her, "_Go_ on, then. Go on. Back to the TARDIS. Go find your little doubles. Tell them your plan failed. Tell them we said no. Tell them what happened. Tell them your little sister _died_ for them. Go on."

She moved awkwardly, stumbling back a few steps, the rock scraping painfully across her exposed arm. She took a few more faltering steps. Her legs felt weak.

Another screech echoed through the caves, and then anthromorph glanced at it, cautiously.

He turned back to her, urging her away, "Go on. Off you go. We'll see each other again, no doubt. You've gotta make it on your own for now. But, seeing as you're our creator and that _technically_ makes us friends we'll give you one word of advice." He paused looking at her, and then smiled, "_Run_!"

* * *


	28. Chapter 28: The Paradox Machine

_Mbea's Trickster __**otte og tyve**__: 'The __Paradox Machine__'. Myra now knows what must be done, whether the others approve or not._

_Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who :(_

* * *

**Chapter 28 -**** The Paradox Machine**

The Doctor settled back against the sandstone, his arms crossed across his chest. His eyes flickered over the scene in front of him, cautiously, taking in the situation in silence. Two of the copies were sitting cross-legged on the floor, sketching a rough diagram of what looked like the paradox machine in the sand.

Another - he thought it was the second, but he wasn't sure - was messing around with the 'Heliotrion scanner', sticking down a thin strip of integrated Kelsa iron with a sonic screwdriver, _his_ sonic screwdriver.

This one kept glancing up at him, almost _guiltily_, and then back down at what she was doing, continuing her work with added haste.

His eyes stayed on her for a moment, and then he looked away. He had been trying, trying to think of something, something that would stop them from doing this, something that would save those twenty-six thousand people. But... _nothing_. He couldn't think of a single thing. He was _useless_, _**powerless**_, and all those people were gunna die.

His eyes moved again. The other girl was on the floor, hunched over herself with her head in her hands, covering her eyes. Mark-Minus One. The transportation had freaked her, and she had said she just needed a few moments to 'chill'. That was over an hour ago. And she _still_ didn't look any closer to figuring out what was going on.

The Doctor hesitated, looking at her. Then he sighed, straightened up, and walked over to her. He paused again, and then sat down by her side. He put a hand on her knee, and she moved her hand and glanced at it, "Hello."

Myra paused, and then looked up at him properly. Her face and eyes were red with recently wiped away tears. "Hello."

"Are you alright?"

She gave a small smile and shook her head, her eyes moving back down to her converse, "Fine. You?"

"Same." He paused for a moment, then leaned towards her, down towards her ear, "Myra, twenty-six thousand people are going to die."

"I know. I can't stop them. I don't... I wouldn't even know _how_."

He shook his head, "Why don't you _say_ something, just tell them how you feel."

"Why would they listen to me."

"Well, they're sure as hell not gunna listen to _me_." She hesitated, and he shook his head again, tightening the grip on her knee, "You can't agree with this. _Surely_. Myra, you know what these people are going to do, are you _really_ _**okay**_ with this?"

"But they're not just _people, are_ they?" she asked, looking up at them, almost sadly, "They're _me_. This plan isn't _theirs_ it's _mine_."

"Time can be rewritten, just _tell_ them."

"I can't. I'm sorry, Doctor. I can't."

"_Why_."

She turned to him, and he could see her eyes filling again, "Because they're right. They're _right_, Doctor. What's the population of this planet, Doctor?"

"Don't do that."

"_What's the population_."

"Eighty _million_." His voice was bitter with anger and forcefully suppressed grief. And maybe just a touch of understanding for her. But not much. Not enough.

She looked at him, "Twenty-six thousand or eighty million, Doctor. And not just that, _more_ planets, _all_ planets, _Earth_, add on another six billion, and another, and _another_, _how many lives_, Doctor. How many lives lost."

"Kill a few, save a lot." He repeated, bitterly, shaking his head. He pulled his hand off her knee and got sharply to his feet. He paused a second, "I thought..." then shook his head again, walking away from her, "Never mind."

"Doctor?"

He ignored her, moving back to the TARDIS.

"What the..."

"_Doctor_!"

He stopped, and then turned, shaking his head, "What now."

Mark-Minus One was on her feet, her eyes fixed in front of her. She nodded down a cave path, not taking her eyes away. He frowned, his curiosity hooked, and walked back towards her, "What are you..."

* * *

He stopped. A girl stood at the other end of the path. She was wearing tight blue jeans with a white vest top, covered by a brown full-length trench coat, open and dusty with sand. A light brown scarf covered some of her dishevelled hair, and had a large reddy-brown stain near the front. A line of blood traced from the corner of her mouth to the top of her vest, staining the rim. She had a black eye, and more, painful-looking bruises scattered her shoulders.

Her eyes were fixed on him, and for a moment she stayed perfectly still.

The Doctor looked at her, and then finally managed to open his mouth: "Myra?"

Her shaking hand moved to her mouth. Then she shook her head, and started running, running towards him. He caught her and she pulled him closer, burying her tear-streaked face in his chest, shaking her head, her sobs muffled by his blue blazer.

"Myra?" he shook her, gently, trying to push her away a little so he could see her face. She tightened her grip, "Myra, look at me. What's wrong, what's happened? Come on, please, _look_ at me, what's going on?"

"I tried." She managed, her voice high and strained, stifled, "I tried, Doctor, I really tried."

He paused, and then nodded, seeing it was what she needed, "I know. I know you did."

One of the other marks had taken a few steps forwards, "Is that the Alpha? She is, isn't she? She's the Alpha."

"Leave her alone." He ordered, coldly, "Just leave her alone." He softened his tone, looking back to her, "Myra? Come on, look at me."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I had to. I had to try."

"I know."

"I tried to save her but I couldn't."

"Save who?"

"It's my fault."

"It's not your fault."

"It's my fault. She came because of me. She came to protect me."

"Who."

She shook her head, dissolving into tears again, "It's all my fault."

"Listen to me. _Listen_ to me, Myra. It's not your fault."

"What's _wrong_ with her?" Mark-Minus One whispered.

Another shook her head, "I don't know."

"Don't you _remember_." The Doctor asked, sharply, sarcastically. The girl recoiled slightly at his tone, but he didn't care. He turned back to the original, the Alpha, _his_ Myra, and put a hand on her cheek, "What happened Myra."

"I went to see the anthromorph."

"I know."

"And she... she followed me. But, Doctor, she's the _original_, and she's... she's dead. He absorbed her. He _killed_ her, he _**murdered**_ her!"

"_Who_, Myra."

"Fi. Faye. He... he killed her."

-1.0 brought in a sharp hiss of breath, "_What_?!"

"But that Faye was the _original_." The newer mark said, sharply.

2.0 had already gone, running full pelt into the TARDIS, the door slamming shut behind her. The Doctor could hear her calling her sister's name, frantically, the word echoing again and again even through the ship's door.

He turned back to Myra, quickly, hesitated, and then just shook his head and drew her closer, holding her tight.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, stroking her hair, "I'm so, so sorry."

She shook her head and didn't look up. She was clinging onto him almost frighteningly tight, like a person drowning.

The TARDIS door smashed open. He glanced up, and then frowned. 2.0 was standing at the door, shaking, but no sign of mourning on her face. She looked angry, yes, _very_, but almost...

She strode forwards, shaking her head, angrily, advancing on the girl, "Why the hell did you _do_ that to me, I almost had a _heart_ attack."

Myra looked up, confused, tears still running down her cheeks, "What d'you..."

She stopped. A woman was glancing out of the TARDIS door behind her, a woman with brown hair done up on top of her head in tight curls and sea-blue eyes. She moved her eyes over the scene in front of her with complete confusion and just a little bit of concern.

The Doctor looked at her, his eyes wide. Then he looked back down at his Myra and smiled slightly, gesturing to the woman with a nod of his head, "Go on."

Myra let her hands fall from him. She turned fully to the woman, staring at her. Then the confusion broke and she ran towards her, grabbing her and dragging her down into a hug, "_Fi_!"

Faye looked down at her, slightly shocked, "Myra, what the hell's going on? What's wrong?"

"You're alive! Oh my God, you're alive."

"Well, yeah, I was the last time I checked. What the hell's got into _you_?" then she looked up, quickly, glancing up at the Doctor, "Oh my God, is she a _future_ one? Is she from the _future_? Am I gunna die?"

The Doctor shook his head, immediately, "No-one's gunna die. No, this... this is the original."

"The Alpha?" she looked back to her, gently disentangling herself from her sister's tight grip, "Come on, now, My, I'm fine."

"Don't call me My, I _hate_ My."

Faye gave a small smile, "_That's_ more like it. Come on then, My-My, pull yourself together."

She pulled herself upright and shot her a scathing glare, "_You_ can talk, Fi-Fi."

"Myra?"

She turned back to him, pulling in a deep, stabilising breath, "Doctor. S-... sorry about that."

He shook his head, immediately, "Don't be daft, you don't need to apologise. What's going on."

"But... how is she _alive_?" she turned back to her sister, urgently, "How are you _alive_?"

"Wake up, make your heart beat, breathe, it's an ongoing struggle."

"Oh, shut up." She turned back to the Doctor, "How is she alive. She... The _original_ was _killed_."

"Actually... that's not _strictly_ correct."

* * *

They all turned to her, and 6.0 shrugged, uneasily, "While they were unconscious, I may have very slightly... _switched_ them. Switched the copy for the original."

Myra looked at her, "You... _What_?"

"_This_ Faye is the original. This Faye _always_ was the original."

The Doctor looked back and forth between them, confused at the Mark's cautious manner, "But... surely this is a _good_ thing? You remembered that Faye was absorbed... so you switched them to save her."

But original Myra was staring at her, "You... _switched_... the Fayes."

6.0 winced, apologetically, "Sorry. I had to."

"_You_ _switched_... the Fayes."

"I'm _sorry_, Myra, I _had_ to."

"And I didn't realise."

"It's, it's nothing _personal_, they're both the same _person_."

Myra just shook her head, almost disgustedly, "Well, _we're_ obviously not, _are_ we?"

6.0 hesitated, and then shook her head, having nothing to say.

The Doctor looked at Myra, finally realising why she was so angry. She was angry because she hadn't realised there had been a switch. Because she felt like she should have known her well enough to have seen she was different. Funny human emotions... So complex... Sometimes he could tell them straight away sometimes... he needed a bit of help. He smiled. Bit like _any_ man, he supposed, human or otherwise.

Myra rounded on him: "What the hell d'you think _you're_ smiling at, intern?"

He raised an eyebrow, "_Intern_?"

Faye smiled, "Yeah, Doctor, Intern, keep up."

"And you shut up too."

"_Why_?"

"Because... 'cause..."

"Because she can't stand to look at you."

She looked round at him, sharply, and then nodded, slowly, looking almost guiltily away.

Faye was frowning, "What... what d'you mean?"

"She can't stand to look at you because she thinks she's failed you. She thinks that she doesn't know you, like she didn't know Maddie."

Faye looked from one to the other, "_Maddie_? What's _she_ got to do with this?"

"Don't." Myra said, softly.

"She couldn't tell Maddie from the anthromorph."

"Doctor -"

"And now she doesn't know whether she can trust _anyone_ anymore."

"I said _don't_."

"Especially not herself."

Myra shook her head, slowly. The glint of tears were back in her eyes. She glanced down, composed herself, and then looked back up, "Please. Just don't."

The Doctor looked at her. Her face showed clearly her emotions, amazingly human. She was so expressive. So... _genuine_. He smiled again, unable to stop himself, "It's good to see you again."

She shook her head, nodding at the others, "You've already seen me."

He paused, not looking at them, "I wanted to see _you_."

"We _are_ her." Another Mark replied, coolly.

"No. No you're not." He looked at her, firmly, "Faye hadn't had time to change. She was taken when she was unconscious and _left_ when she was unconscious. She _was_ the same person, Myra. You didn't pick out a difference because there... _was_ none."

Myra looked at him for a second, and then nodded, slowly, "Okay."

"Do you believe that, Myra?"

"I... Yes. I suppose."

"Myra. Do you trust me?"

Myra looked at him. "Yes. I trust you, Doctor."

"Good. Now. We've gotta think of a plan."

"I know, and I was thinking, I just - Oh! What time is it?"

The sudden change took him aback for a moment, and then he glanced at his watch, "Two-eighteen. Why?"

"Don't any of you people have _watches_?" Faye asked, scathingly.

Myra showed her her wrist, where a silver watch took precedence. Closer inspection showed the hands to be going past continuously, hours being taken up in minutes, "Time travel didn't agree with it."

The Doctor frowned and then grabbed her wrist and pulled it towards him, automatically, glancing it over, "Time differential. Just gimmie a sec, hey, you, have you got my screwdriver?"

Myra shook her head, yanking her arm away from him, "I don't care about the _watch_, genius, I care about the _time_. Which we are running _out_ of." She lowered her voice, leaning towards him, "Doctor, it didn't work. The anthromorph. The plan. So I'm gunna have to go onto the next one, and, you're just gunna have to trust me on this, okay?"

He nodded, immediately, "Of course."

"Fantastic." She turned to her copies, "Right. We have twelve minutes to get this all sorted out."

"Why exactly _twelve_?" Mark-Minus One asked, frowning.

"'Cause in twelve minutes the TARDIS is going to burn through my mind, and if _I_ die we _all_ die, understood?"

Faye looked at her, biting gently on her lower lip, unconsciously.

Mark 5.0 shook her head, "Twelve minutes to _what_?"

Myra smiled, "Twelve minutes to fix that Paradox Machine."

* * *

"Do you know what you're doing?"

Myra glanced at him, "Not really. Well, _kinda_. I'm just sort of picking it up as I go along."

The Doctor looked up, and she followed his gaze. Up close the Paradox Machine looked much more... _wrong_. The wreck of a Paradox Machine looked two seconds away from falling apart, wires everywhere, the cage covering it tattered, a mess of twisted metal.

"That looks like something outta _Saw_." Faye said, quietly.

"God, don't talk about that _now_." Myra said, shaking her head. Her sister had coaxed her into watching the film once. She hadn't managed to get through half an hour; the guy in the barbed wire had sealed it for her, forced her to leave the room to be sick.

"That is... _amazing_." The Doctor whispered, looking around him, "That is so..."

"He created it by seeing glimpses through the Blockade." Myra explained, quietly, "It's a wonder it even _works_.

"He's a genius. A _true_ genius. I mean, _look_ at this thing!" he moved forwards, energetic admiration burning in his eyes, "He made this thing out of string and staples, it's... _fantastic_."

"Oi, don't get all _alien_ on us we've got a _job_ to do." She turned round to Mark-Two and held out a hand, "Scanner."

2.0 frowned, "Why?"

"Just... pass me the scanner. _Please_."

She hesitated, and then nodded and took the Heliotrion scanner off her neck and held it out to her.

Myra took a quick step back, "Give it to the Doctor."

"Why?"

"'Cause we can't risk physical contact, _that's_ why."

"We need physical contact to open a full paradox." 6.0 said, quietly.

"Yeah, I realise that, but not _yet_, we need this ready."

"But -"

"Look, just _listen_ to me, the anthromorph knows what we're doing, which means we have to _change_ what we're doing, and _fast_, so just do what I say and quit your bleeding complaining, okay?"

2.0 hesitated, then passed the scanner to the Doctor, silently.

"Thankyou." She took it off him, glancing it over. She almost smiled. They had done exactly what she'd thought they would. She popped open the casing and then handed it back to the Doctor, along with her own, "Now, Doctor, take this one, strip the gyrojenetisist tyroresonance wires and connect them. Seal the two manipulators and make sure they're in check, okay?"

He nodded, already concentrating, "Sure."

"Why are you connecting them?" 6.0 asked, curiously.

"Double strength. We'll need it if we're going to catch the anthromorph unawares."

"But what's that you're connecting it to?"

"It's my own Heliotrion scanner. With modifications."

"_What_ modifications." 5.0 asked, frowning slightly.

Myra raised an eyebrow, looking her up and down, "What, you don't _trust_ me? After I trusted you with my _life_ back with the anthromorph? And you left me to be absorbed?"

"You turned out okay, didn't you."

"Yeah. 'Cause of Mark-_Four_. Not 'cause of _you_."

"_I __**sent**_ Mark-Four."

"Yeah. You sent off Mark-_Four_. You didn't come yourself you sent _her_. What sort of coward _are_ you? 'Cause if _that's_ what I'm gunna be then you might as well kill me now."

5.0 raised an eyebrow. The Alpha looked straight back, expression identical, daring her to say what she was thinking. Finally, one lowered their eyes, nodded, grudgingly.

"Alright." 5.0 said, slowly, "Okay. I'll trust you. But we haven't got long."

"Agreed." She turned back to the Doctor, nodding at him, softening her voice: "Whenever you're ready."

"How long have you got." Faye asked, quietly.

The Alpha nodded, slowly, "How long have _I_ got? Realistically? Five minutes. To get everything done. Leaving ten to talk to the Trickster."

Her sister swore under her breath and Myra hesitated, looking at her. Then she shook her head, finding nothing to say, and squeezed her shoulder.

Then she turned away and went back to the Paradox Machine, "Five, get on the timer, disconnect it, change it to seven minutes from now. Six, I want you on the monitor, tell me if anything changes. If the Kelsa on this scanner slips it'll be on the display, and I wanna know, hear me? 2.0, the chromatic-neutro accelerator, make sure it's _unstable_, at _all_ times."

"But -"

"Don't argue with me, do it. Right, now - you two."

Minus-One shook her head, "I can't help you."

Faye frowned, "Why not?"

"I don't have the TARDIS like you do. In my head. I don't, I can't... I don't _know_ anything, all this is... _way_ above me. I can't help you."

The Alpha raised an eyebrow, "Well. I think _I'll_ be the judge of that. C'mon, both of you. Faye, you too. And you, Doctor."

Minus-One got to her feet, slowly, "Where are we going?"

She paused, and then gave the smallest smile, "We're gunna go meet the Trickster's Brigade. Doctor, bring the scanner."

* * *


	29. Chapter 29: The Trickster’s Brigade

_Mbea's Trickster __**bölüm yirmi dokuz**__: '__The Trickster's Brigade__'. A long-awaited plan finally starts to come together, and a sudden change of heart is called for._

_Disclaimer - Iway on'tday ownway octorday owhay - that's 'I don't own Doctor Who' in Pig Latin, that is. Oh, I do get bored sometimes :)_

* * *

**Chapter 29 -**** The Trickster's Brigade**

"This'll work."

"You're _sure_ about that."

"Yes."

"How come?"

"I just am."

"But it's not a full paradox."

"No, no it's not, it's a _half_ paradox. But it'll work."

Faye turned away, but the Doctor stayed, looking at her, concernedly, "You're sure you wanna do this?"

"Yes." The Alpha replied, immediately, "A full paradox will let the Reapers into the village - this won't. What about you?"

Mark-Minus One nodded, slowly, "Yes. If... if it'll keep the villagers safe... then yes."

"Okay. Come on then."

"Why am I here again?" Faye asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Moral support."

"Myra."

She glanced at her sister, seeing her sceptical look, and shook her head, "Okay. Okay, that was a lie. Well, _half_ a lie. I'll tell you later."

"_What_?"

"I'll _tell_ you _later_." She repeated, firmly, glancing meaningfully at Mark-One's turned back.

Faye paused, and then nodded, slowly, "Okay."

The Doctor was frowning at her, but she shook her head and turned back to the empty horizon.

They had retreated back to the surface, back to the desert, taking the original TARDIS to get there five minutes before they left, something Myra had told them would 'buy her a little time'. It wouldn't. They were running on her own personal timeline now. But she had her own reasons for sparing those extra minutes.

Faye looked around her, putting up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, "Is it time?"

Myra shrugged, forcing the action to seem more casual than she felt, "Dunno. Maybe." She hesitated, looking up at the sky. It was a bright blue, the suns blazing, heat burning onto her face. "Nope. Nothing _yet_..."

"What are you waiting for?"

She ignored her, keeping her eyes up. Waiting. Maybe. She supposed she might be waiting. But for the Trickster to force his way into their world he would need a little help.

"Sarah Jane's change was made on a fault line."

The Doctor looked at her, quickly, "Sarah Jane?"

"And that let the Trickster manifest himself physically."

Faye frowned, "Are _we_ on a fault line?"

"No. And that's a good thing. We don't want the Trickster corporeal, that would be very very bad. But... with all the paradoxes, all the complications... maybe time's a little weaker." She glanced down at her, "We've gotta be really careful. You know how it is, any disturbance in time breaks a hole."

"And we've made a lot of holes." Minus-One completed, slowly.

"Yeah. I know." She stopped, and then turned to the Doctor, slowly, "Doctor?" he looked at her, frowning, but didn't speak. She hesitated again, and then pressed it: "Doctor, is this... is this okay?"

He raised an eyebrow, and then shook his head, "Myra, you told me to trust you. Remember, you _said_ I was going to have to _trust_ you."

"Yeah, I know, but... well, I'd like your opinion."

"How can I possibly give an opinion, I have no _idea_ what's going on."

Myra shook her head, "Yeah. Okay. I suppose so. But..." she looked at him for a second, the smallest, curious smile playing around her lips, "Can't you guess?"

He paused, and then, slowly, returned the small smile, his eyes glittering, "Not a clue."

"Good. Keeps you on your toes."

He raised the eyebrow again, "Sure. If you say so."

She smiled again, and then turned round, facing Faye, "Fi, you got a mirror?"

She paused for a second, thinking, and then shook her head, "No, sorry."

"Doctor?"

He patted down his pockets, quickly, and then pulled out an ornate Victorian-looking hand mirror from his right inside pocket. He held it out to her. She raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to ask, and took it. The mirror faced the sand, but she didn't turn it over. She paused, tracing the engraved back with a finger, thoughtfully.

_Chaos... is my blood... and air... and food._

She felt out a brass rose on the handle with her thumb. This was... this was huge. This was something she wasn't ready for. Except... _was_ she? Was she _really_? Was she really _totally_ unprepared for this? Ever since the Doctor had talked of the Brigade she had had this strange feeling, deep inside of her. Telling her she would have to face him. Face the Trickster.

_I have no self - I exist only to bring disorder, __**that**__ is my purpose._

An agent of disorder. She had always thought it somewhat unlikely, what was his _reasoning_, why would chaos mean so _much_ to him? But chaos was his food... and air... And blood.

_Just blind chaos. This is food for me._

It didn't make sense. It had _never_ made sense. And if she hadn't been such a _'science-fiction geek'_ she wouldn't have thought about it as much as she did, she wouldn't have tried to figure out why. But the answer was simple. It had _always_ been simple. Chaos was his blood.

Myra turned the mirror over. The sunlight reflected back at her, making her wince, and she turned the glass slightly away. Her own forest-green eyes looked back at her, automatically moving over her pale, blood-stained skin.

Then they flickered upwards, to the horizon behind her. The heat shimmered above the baked sand, the boiling heat she hadn't noticed for some time.

She twisted the mirror slightly to one side. The TARDIS appeared in the left corner. She moved it back. The ship disappeared again. And something else appeared. A dark shape, a twist of black far out against the horizon. Something like a man, a hooded man.

"Hello there." She said, quietly.

"Myra? What's going on?"

"Come here."

"Myra?"

"Take my hand."

Minus One paused, looking at her, and then nodded, and took another step forwards, holding out her hand.

_Waking or sleeping, I am always with you._

Myra looked at it, hesitated for one last second, and then took it.

A shadow fell across her and she looked up, sharply. What a second ago had been a bright blue sky had darkened, thick, grey clouds screening the twin suns. Thunder rumbled across the sky.

"Looks like rain." She said, quietly.

Faye shivered, "It's so cold."

Myra nodded and took off the long trench coat, glancing at the Doctor for his permission before handing it to her. She hesitated, and then took it, Myra helping it over her slightly broader shoulders.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky right over their heads and she flinched back. The roar of thunder came less than a second later, loud and echoing over the empty sand plains.

Myra bit her lip, hard, shaking her head, slowly, "Here we go..."

"Hello Myra Hull."

* * *

Myra turned around, slowly, refusing to show any sign of emotion, refusing to show any sign of the heavy thumping of her heart in her chest.

A man in a long, black cloak stood in front of her, not that far away. The deep hood covered pallid skin stretched over brittle bones, with a mouth of razor, shark-like teeth. His voice was a deep, slow hiss, a death rattle.

Myra raised her head slightly, all her emotions forced into that one small gesture. The way the skin stretched over his empty eye sockets made her want to heave. She could understand fear of him now, _true_ fear. He was not just a CBBC character, a joke-alien made for children, like the Abzobaloff, or the Adipose, this was... this was far more real. She could taste fear, metallic in her mouth.

The Trickster turned its empty head, "And _you_. _The Doctor_, isn't it?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and then gave a mock smile, lifting his hand to his head in a casual, two-fingered salute, "Hullo."

He moved slightly forwards, towards him, "After all this time, we finally meet. _The_ _Doctor_, the last of the Time Lords..."

Faye frowned slightly. She shot Myra a confused look, and she immediately shook her head, warningly. Technically, it _was_ the first time they had met. The events of 'Turn Left' hadn't _happened_ yet, not in _this_ universe. He hadn't even met _Donna_ yet, not for the _second_ time, at least.

The Doctor didn't seem to notice the exchange: "Yup. That's me."

"You dare summon me here?"

He smiled, shaking his head, casually, "Got it all wrong, Trickster. I've got _nothing_ to do with this. It's all _her_ show."

He nodded towards Myra. The Trickster turned back to look at her, consider her, "And _why_, may I ask?"

She raised an eyebrow, forcing up a fire inside of her that would help her through this, "What, you've not been watching? I find that unlikely."

"I'd like to hear it... from _you_."

"Okay then, straight to the point, you've got yourself a renegade Trickster. An anthromorph."

He inclined his head very slightly, "Correct."

"And this anthromorph is a problem both to you and to us. We wanna get rid of it as much as you do."

His grotesque mouth turned slightly in a grimly amused smile, "I doubt that."

"Well, okay then. I get that. He discredited you in front of your whole brigade, tried to kill you, _almost __**succeeded**_, and then disappeared off the face of the map." She looked at him, raising an eyebrow and giving him her own smile, "Must've been quite a dishonour, right? Make some of your Brigade start to question you? Quite a kick in the teeth?"

"Shouldn't you be trying to _find_ this guy?" Minus One added, smoothly, her expression identical, "If he's discredited you so much? He's betrayed _you_, shouldn't _you_ betray _him_?"

Myra looked at her, approvingly, "Couldn't have said it better myself. An eye for an eye, right? Well." Her gaze flickered up to his empty eye sockets, distastefully, "Figuratively speaking, of course."

"You're going to suggest... an _alliance_." The hiss stated, musingly.

"A compromise." She corrected, firmly, "Not an alliance. I'm not on your side. I'm just _against_ the _same_ side."

The Trickster looked between the two of them, and then moved his head to the Doctor, "And what would be the compromise."

Myra caught the glance and shook her head, disgustedly, "Oh, don't even _think_ about it. I know how this _works_, Trickster. He's one of a kind. To take him you'd need someone's direct consent, and you're not gunna get that from _us_, understood?" she turned to him, "And I'm assuming _you're_ not gunna give it, right?"

He nodded, immediately, "Oh, yeah. You're not getting _me_ that easily."

"Fine." The hooded face turned back to Myra, "Then what is your bargain?"

"Chaos." She replied, simply, "Chaos that once was the anthromorph's. You'll get everything when you absorb him. And the anthromorph _brought_ us here, you'll even get a bit off the Doctor and us, me and Faye."

"You broke open the paradoxes..."

"To bring you here. There's over six of us now. Over six of _me_, that is. The others wanted to break open a full paradox. But I knew that would let the Reapers in, let them into the village. They're already in the caves."

"The Reapers are not significant."

"If they're gunna pull apart the village then they are _very_ significant." Minus One corrected, coolly.

The Trickster looked at her, "How... _human_."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Faye replied, shaking her head.

He just held his hands out slightly, tilting his head to one side in a half-shrug.

"You want the anthromorph you're gunna need us." Myra said, firmly bringing the conversation back to the point, "We're the only ones that can get within a hundred miles of it."

"_And_ the only ones that'll give _consent_." -1.0 added, raising an eyebrow.

"'Cause now he's absorbed some of the _Doctor_, _he's_ one of a kind too."

Her sister frowned, "What, he's... he's _Time_ Lord?"

"Not quite. But there's enough residual energy for us to track him. With the _Doctor's_ help, of course."

"Which means you can't absorb him," -1.0 said, smiling, sweetly, "Not unless you want the anthromorph to disappear _again_."

"And that's not it, is it." The Alpha continued, looking at him perfectly seriously, "The anthromorph said that when he betrayed you, you went back in time. To the moment of his creation."

The Trickster nodded, slowly, "Yes. I did."

"To try and prevent it, no doubt, to try and absorb him when he was at his weakest, but something went wrong."

"Yes. _You_." He smiled the bitter smile again, shaking his head, "I went back. But I couldn't stop his creation because _you_ stopped his creation. You created him... and then you... _un_created him."

"After the Paradox Machine was in effect." She replied, nodding, "Yes. Yes, I did. That's what stopped you?"

"My work should have been done. But the Machine stopped it."

"So why don't we just... destroy the machine?" Faye asked.

The Doctor shook his head, "It's not that simple. With all the copies, with all the holes in the time the Marks have made, we'd have no _idea_ what disconnecting it could do. They basically halted the whole space-time continuum. It could heal itself or it could rip a hole through the cosmos. There's no way of telling."

"So we need _you_." Myra said, looking solely at the Trickster, "Just as much as you need us."

The Trickster nodded, slowly, looking at her. There was a short pause, and then he shook his head, "But what do _you_ want out of it. _Apart_ from his death."

"You're very perceptive. The anthromorph put something in me. Something that's burning through me. Something... something that'll kill me. But he got the power from _you_. When he's absorbed it will be removed. But if we don't get there in time... I want _you_ to remove it."

"When he's absorbed _you_ will be removed." He corrected, "All your memories gone, all memories of _this_, the _anthromorph_, _Mbea_..." his turned his head to the Doctor, "_Him_... _All_ of it."

"I know. And that's something I'm willing to sacrifice."

"Your memories?"

"All of them." She gave a small smile, "Memories or lives, I think I know which ones are the most important."

"How long have you left."

She turned her head, "Doctor?"

He glanced down at his watch, "Two-sixteen."

She looked back at the Trickster, "Take away five, so nine minutes."

"What?" Faye asked, sharply, "I thought you went back to save time."

"It's running on my own personal timeline, Faye, not this planet's."

"So why..."

"Soon the others will realise what I'm doing. They'll try to find us. But they won't realise I went back. By the time they get here they'll be too late. One way or another." She turned back to the Trickster, raising an eyebrow, "So you want this anthromorph or what?"

The Trickster looked at her, considering, "You think we could do this alone?"

"No, we'd need your Brigade. And I'd need... some assurances, of course."

"As would I."

"Yes. You only take the TARDIS out of my head when it's necessary. I'll give you warning, don't worry." She paused, and then nodded at him, "And your Brigade will stick to your bargain." She gave him a second, and then shook her head, "Fine. Summon your Brigade, then."

"You're assuming that I'll say yes?"

She smiled, "You already have. You're still here, aren't you."

He paused, looking at her, and then nodded, "Very well. I will summon the Brigade." He paused, moving his empty eyes over her, giving her a second of consideration, "Brace yourself."

"Why."

He didn't answer. Instead he took a few steps back, and then turned, looking to the empty horizon.

Faye glanced at her sister, and Myra shook her head, grimly. She glanced at the Doctor, who gave a small, encouraging nod. He took a few steps towards her and then took her hand, linking his fingers with hers, squeezing. She forced a smile, and he returned the effort. Then they both looked back at the Trickster.

He was standing, still looking at the horizon. Then, slowly, he raised his arms. Thunder crashed through the air, and Myra shivered and crossed one arm protectively over her stomach as the temperature dropped a few degrees. Rain trickled, then gushed, then thundered down from the clouds, getting all of them soaked in a matter of seconds. Water streamed over her bare shoulders and she forcefully suppressed her shiver. The Doctor drew her closer and she let him, blinking water from her eyelashes and shaking her sodden hair out of her eyes.

A long, low hiss whispered around them, making the hair stand on the back of her neck, and she moved very slightly back. Her heart was pounding. The hiss hadn't been translated; it wasn't a language. It was just a call. A summon. And that made it worse.

The Doctor tightened his grip on her hand. She glanced at it, and then squeezed back. The hiss grew louder. Myra glanced to her left and realised -1.0 had put an arm around Faye's back, pulling her closer. Her eyes lingered on the touch for a second. She didn't know what to think of it.

Something moved behind her and Myra turned her head to it, automatically, keeping her eyes on the Trickster. Something moved again, and she twitched, flinching back and glancing over her shoulder. Nothing. Nothing but the storm.

Then a hiss came from somewhere else, and she turned on her heel. A snatch of whispering drifted past her ears, and she turned back.

"What the hell is going on." Faye whispered, her voice forcedly calm.

Another whisper from another side. She turned again. It was so close; she could _feel_ breath on the back of her neck. She span round, fighting to control her furiously beating heart. The voice continued, the words indistinct. She couldn't quite work it out.

The Doctor took hold of her hand once again, squeezing just hard enough to snap her out of it, force her to stay still. The shadows were starting to come through now. Shadows of creatures passing over the sand, flowing through bolts of lightning.

The wind blew through Myra's hair, blowing it over her face, scattering frozen raindrops across her face. A shadow passed over her shoulder and she snapped her head to it, quickly, and watched it glide away. The whisper grew and faded, like wind moving through leaves. She looked around her, expression forcefully blank, refusing to let them see any kind of weakness.

The Doctor's grip on her hand was now painfully tight. She tightened her grip in return, holding on like they were lost in a storm, like he was her only beacon in the darkness. Thunder cracked and a flash of violet lightning crashed down to earth, scorching a patch of sand not ten feet away from them. The storm was reaching a level Myra had never even thought _possible_, not even in the wildest nights back in Telford had she seen storms like this.

Then it subsided. The lightning and thunder stopped. The rain dried up. The clouds dissipated. And the Trickster's Brigade stood still, watching them.

* * *

Myra looked around her, slowly. Around them was a crowd of aliens, people, all staring at them. Tetraps, Sycorax, Sontarans, Graske, Shades, _Humans_, and _more_, species she didn't even _recognise_, what looked like giant, bipedal dogs, giant birds, these sort of... black-shelled... _cheetah_ things. So many, at least a hundred, _more_, even. And they completely surrounded them.

Myra looked at them all, completely impassively, despite the pounding of her heart. The desert was already starting to reheat, and she was starting to feel it once again on her face. She raised a shaking hand to her head and slowly brushed her sopping hair back out of her eyes. Then she turned back to the Trickster, "Our bargain?"

He smiled, grimly, "Don't worry. They won't harm you."

"Really." She glanced at the closest Trickster, looking them up and down. She was a girl, a young girl of about six, with round, chocolate-coloured eyes and brilliantly white hair that traced her shoulders. She was wearing a strange, old-fashioned dress, blue with buttons running right the way down, and there was a piece of red ribbon tied tightly around her left wrist. Myra hesitated, looking at her. She couldn't even tell if she was _human_. She _looked_ human. Was that enough?

She looked at the girl, frowning slightly. Was this one a genuine volunteer? Or had she been enslaved like so many others? Trapped into saving her own life, only to be stuck for the rest of time as a Trickster, as one of the Brigade? Did she even _remember_ what it felt like to have free will?

Myra wrenched her eyes off the girl, and returned her attention back to the Trickster, "So. We better get moving. Nine minutes isn't long."

"No, it's not." He replied, softly. There was a short pause, and then he nodded towards the TARDIS, "Don't let us stop you."

She hesitated, and then nodded, turning back to the ship. Leaving her back to the Trickster sent shivers running down her spine, but she ignored them, quickly, and motioned to Faye with a jerk of her head. Her sister followed her all too quickly, her eyes flickering and latching onto the many creatures around them. -1.0 took the same stance as Myra, holding her breath firmly in her chest and walking at an only slightly hastened pace back towards the TARDIS.

The Doctor unlocked the door with the key from his pocket and Myra took hold of it, gesturing him in first. He hesitated and then obeyed, silently, taking the other two in with him.

Myra stopped at the door, looking back at the Trickster, catching his empty gaze. She paused, watching him, carefully, and then gave a slow nod. He returned the gesture, a slight inclination of the head. She paused again, and then turned on her heel, shutting the door firmly behind her.

She leant on it for a moment, and then shook her head, starting once again towards the console, "Come on. The Trickster isn't known for his patience."

Faye nodded, slowly, "Right. And we've got a bit of a deadline _ourselves_."

Myra shook her head, "Ooh, _deadline_, bad choice of word, I never met a _deadline_ I liked."

Faye smiled, humourlessly, "What would you prefer?"

"Oh, I don't know... _Time limit_? Goal? _Target_, maybe?"

"How are those better?"

"Well, I suppose... deadline sounds just a little bit more..." she glanced at her, raising an eyebrow and echoing her grim smile, "_Fatal_."

Faye rolled her eyes. -1.0 smiled. The Doctor started attacking the console. They had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Myra poked her head out the door less than three minutes later. T minus five minutes and counting. She locked her eyes on the Trickster, staying beside the ajar TARDIS door in case she was needed, "We've got a blip! We've found him!"

"Where?"

"In the tunnels, around three miles from the Paradox Machine. Not far." She turned to head into the TARDIS and then spun back on her heel, leaning out the door again, "I'm assuming you can track us?"

The Trickster nodded, slowly, "Of course."

"Then meet us there, we haven't got much time."

She retreated back into the ship without another word, "Doctor, get us out of here!"

She ran up to the console and threw up the handbrake, clocking the Doctor working the regulator and latching -1.0's hands onto the accelerator.

Myra moved over to Faye, quickly, pushing her back into a corner away from them, "Take this." She pushed the modified scanner into her hand, firmly, ignoring her vague protests, looping the string around her neck, "'Cause this is why I brought you, Fi. I couldn't trust the others. If I... if I don't get this activated, then I need _you_ to, do you understand?"

"No." She replied, shaking her head, "I don't understand at _all_, Myra. What the hell _is_ this thing?"

"Trust me, you don't wanna know, now, this button here - you see it? - hold this down for three seconds to power it up. _Then_ click this lever _here_ up to _six_, the box should take care of the rest, you got it?"

Faye nodded, looking at the box and nodding, quickly, her fingers finding out the buttons, "And I do that if...?"

"If we're too late. If whatever the anthromorph's put in my head activates. As soon as that happens you activate this, okay?"

"But what does it _do_?"

"It... it's... It's a last resort thing, okay? So don't do it if you don't have to."

"Why is it a last resort thing?" she asked, firmly, "Myra, what does this thing _do_. Is it _dangerous_?"

Myra looked at her for a second, hesitantly.

Faye looked at her, "Myra. You said it was a last resort. If that thing escapes in your mind. Will it... will it... _help_? Block the signal somehow?"

She hesitated again, and then shook her head, slowly, "Just use it. When I tell you. Okay?"

She turned, quickly, heading for the Doctor.

"Myra! Myra, you listen to me. Is this thing gunna hurt you?"

She shook her head, immediately, still moving away, motioning vaguely at the console, "I'm sorry, I've gotta... Just... just trust me."

"Myra! Myra, you answer me _right_ now!"

She ignored her, retreating back to the console, keeping a lever steady and holding the warp-splice down, "I'm busy, Faye."

"Busy _what_?" her eyes flashed.

She turned to her, raising an eyebrow, "Finding us an anthromorph."

* * *

2.0 looked down at the chromatic-neutro accelerator. Two dials were next to it, a positive and a negative neutro display. Every time one slipped so far as to appear stable, she changed it, deftly, slipping the level back into flux.

She glanced up at the others occasionally, but only for less than a second before looking back at the controls. It wasn't concentration. This task didn't need much of her attention. No. It was something else.

Her attention was elsewhere. Back in the hospital with the Doctor. St Mary's Hospital, Chichester. 1556. His hands were on her flushed face and he was moving so gently through her memories, helping her along with him, encouraging her, _soothing_ her.

And then forward to the TARDIS, with him bouncing around the room like he was king of his own little world, which, in a way, she supposed he was. His glittering grin when he entered caves no-one had been in for all of time, his wild enthusiasm. The way he was so almost... _adorable_ in his enthusiasm, his eternal optimism, something that so few things could shake. And, most of all... his... _faith_ in her. His _trust_. Trusting a stranger, someone he didn't even _know_.

And, of course... the promise he had made her. The one that had made her troubles just drift away. Because she knew it was true.

_I will __**never leave you here**__, Myra. Believe that._

"I believe it." She whispered, softly.

5.0 turned to her, frowning, "Sorry?"

"I believe it." She repeated, louder. She paused, and then glanced at her, knowing the Mark had no idea what she was saying but not caring, "I believe it."

"What're you talking about?"

She hesitated, and then shook her head, "I'm sorry. But I can't let him do this."

"Let him do _what_?"

"I know what he's going to do. I've gotta stop him." She hesitated again and then backed away, letting the neutro accelerator slip back into place, "I'm sorry."

She turned around, and started walking swiftly down the rocky path.

"Myra? Wait, _Myra_? Where d'you think you're going? _Myra_!"

Her stride hastened until she broke into a full-out run. She didn't look back.

* * *


	30. Chapter 30: Chaos is my Blood

_Mbea's Trickster chapter thirty: '__Chaos is my Blood'__. A deadline must be met, promises are broken, and someone turns to the last resort._

Doctor Who © BBC

* * *

**Chapter 30 -**** Chaos is my Blood**

The TARDIS shuddered to a halt, and Myra clicked the handbrake into place. She hesitated, looking at the door, "We're here."

The Doctor was looked at her, seriously, "You don't have to do this, you know. You could stay here."

She gave a small, humourless laugh, "I think it's gone beyond that now."

"Really. If you don't want to."

"I don't know _what_ I want anymore. I can just..." she broke off and shook her head, and then lowered her voice: "I can just... see this going wrong in so many ways."

He smiled, "Yeah, well, so can I. Don't worry about it. I've got you covered."

She glanced at him and smiled, "Thanks. I feel better already."

"You've got a plan, I'm assuming?"

She nodded, slowly, "Pretty much."

"Will it work?"

"Well... only one way to find out, right?"

He nodded, "Yep." He gave her a moment, and then jerked his head towards the door, "You ready?"

She didn't reply. Instead her eyes fell on her sister and Myra Mark-Minus One, standing at the other side of the room. Faye was sitting down, her gaze on the floor, and -1.0 was crouching down in front of her, her hands on her knees.

Myra shook her head, slowly, "I've brought them into something that could kill them."

"No." The Doctor corrected, immediately, "The _anthromorph_ did that. Right at the beginning. It wasn't you."

"Really? That's... good to hear." She paused for a moment, thinking. Then she looked back at him, "Doctor. If I die -"

"Don't be daft, no-one's gunna die here."

"But... if I do. I just... I just want one thing. That's all. One thing."

He looked at her, completely seriously, "Anything." She could tell he meant it.

She hesitated, and then shook her head, and, abruptly, grabbed him by the back of the neck. She pulled him down to her level and kissed him, getting up on tiptoes to reach, her fingers running through his hair. After a few moments she pulled back, tasting him on her lips. She hesitated, and then went back again, more softly, dabbing her lips across his. Then she pulled back, feeling her feet fully touch the floor. His face was amazed, shock holding him to the spot, his mouth left slightly open.

Myra paused, and then shook her head, smiling slightly embarrassedly, unconsciously running her tongue over her lips. She backed off a little, managing to force herself to meet his eyes, "I just wanted to be able to tell myself I've done that. Come on. Let's go."

* * *

"Myra? _Myra_?"

2.0 retreated a few metres back down the path and then took a right.

"Myra! _Doctor_?"

She ran the first few metres, but then found she had to slow down. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her breathing was sharp and shallow. There was an agonising stitch in her side that felt like she had a dagger rammed between her ribs. She slowed down, her hand clasping her side, and eventually shuddered to a halt. She doubled over, putting her hands on her knees and battling with her breathing.

"Myra." She managed when she finally caught her breath, "Oh, God, Myra, where the hell _are_ you."

She drew back in a long, deep breath, and then forced herself back upright. She looked down the path. She was past the Farons, close to where she had first met him, first met the anthromorph, disguised as the Doctor. She hesitated, shaking her head, wearily, and then forced herself to continue. She _had_ to keep going. For the _Doctor_.

* * *

"Where is he."

"I don't know. Keep your eyes open."

Myra looked around her, cautiously. She'd already been fooled more than once by _this_ Trickster. She wasn't going to let it happen again.

"The TARDIS tracked it down to this point, right?" she asked, slowly, keeping her voice quiet, "Gallifreyan technology, Gallifreyan energy?"

"Well..." he replied, "Give a little _leeway_."

She turned to him, raising her eyebrows, shaking her head, incredulously, "You are... _absolutely_ hopeless, d'you know that?"

"Yeah, thanks for that, I'll keep that in mind."

"How _much_ leeway."

"I dunno... half a mile? Less?"

"Fantastic."

"Where's the Trickster's Brigade got to?" -1.0 asked, frowning.

Myra looked around her. The cave paths were too quiet. Then she turned back to her, "I don't know. Maybe they've -"

The person behind her pulled her into a headlock, pulling his arm tight around her throat, pushing a sharp kitchen knife up to her chin, "_Stop right there_."

The Doctor turned to her, sharply, and then stopped in his tracks. His eyes hovered on the blade, cautiously, holding out a hand, running his teeth over his bottom lip, unconsciously, "Okay. Okay, alright, just... calm down."

Myra's hands were on his arm, pulling at his grip, but he was too strong, and her weight was not enough to tear him from her throat. His arm was low on her neck, his grip tight enough for her to have to gasp for breath. She moved her head back, trying to give herself just an inch, just something to stop her choking like she was now, to let her breathe. She yanked hard enough for him to finally notice, and he gave her a slight amount of room.

She immediately sucked in oxygen, her breaths coming in short, painful gasps, coughing and choking on each one.

"_Let her go_." Faye ordered, her voice low with anger.

Sedley smiled at her, "I don't think so. Now. You just keep your distance." He pushed the point of the knife closer to her throat and she winced, "You don't want us _slipping_ with this, _do_ you."

Her sister hesitated, anger and hatred burning in her eyes. Then she shook her head, slowly, and took a few steps back.

"That's better." The anthromorph glanced down at her, raising an eyebrow, "Isn't that right, Myra Hull?"

"Get your hands off me." She managed, giving her fight another violent surge.

He adjusted his grip, easily subduing her attempts, "Now now, let's not doing something we're gunna regret, Myra. You be careful, now."

"Oh, _screw_ you! Get the _hell_ off me, anthromorph, _get your hands __**off**__ of me_!"

He smiled, and then leant down slightly, moving his mouth to her ear, "Can you feel it, Myra? Is it starting?" she glanced up, quickly, "Can we have a time check, Doctor?"

The Doctor paused, looking at him, and then, slowly, looked at his watch. He took his time. Then he looked slowly back up. "Two-twenty eight." He said, softly.

"Oh, not long then, yes? Shall we have your sister here, d'you think? Your little Faye? Shall we let her watch?"

"Let her go." Myra said, quietly, "Just let her go, she's nothing to do with this."

"Oh, we think she _is_. 'Cause, you see, Myra, you brought the _Brigade_ here, _didn't_ you? You brought the _Trickster_ here. You _led_ him to us. So now we've gotta take up some precautions. _One_ of which is _you_. 'Cause we've gotta be careful now. Because... if we're not... _really careful_... we might slip. And something bad might happen to you, Myra. Something _very_ bad."

"What makes you think I'd care?"

* * *

The anthromorph spun round, yanking Myra around with him, "_Master_. How good to see you again."

The Trickster moved towards him, slowly, "You betrayed us, anthromorph. You betrayed the Brigade."

Sedley forced the blade closer to her neck, bringing up a slight flinch, "Stay back or we'll kill her."

"Go ahead." He replied, instantly, "The human is nothing to me. She was just a means to an end."

Shadows started whispering around them, shapes moving through from the darkness, solidifying. Myra's eyes flickered over them, and then locked onto the Doctor's, her breathing fast and shallow. The Brigade was forming around them, Graske, Humans, Sycorax, Sontarans, all around them. They formed a tight circle, enclosing them, keeping the six in, blocking the exits.

"You betrayed us." A voice hissed from the crowd, "You would destroy the Trickster, the Master."

"Let the human _go_. Let the human go and _face_ us."

"You betrayed the Brigade." The Trickster said, quietly, "There can only be one sentence."

The cloaked figure raised an arm. The knife flew from the anthromorph's hand, imbedding itself in the cave wall. Myra immediately reacted, stamping down on his foot. He staggered backwards and she yanked herself out of his grip, stumbling away.

The Doctor caught her, quickly, moving her back away from him, "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, "Fine." Then she shook her head again, "No. Changed my mind. Terrified."

The Trickster was still standing, arm raised towards the anthromorph. A light shot down from the roof above him and Sedley snapped his head up to it, warily, following it around the roof. Then another shot out, hitting the floor.

"What's that." -1.0 whispered, staring at the beams of light.

"Holding cells." The Doctor said back, too staring at the light, "They're internal holding cells."

Sedley put a hand up to the light and something immediately threw it back down. He turned, trying to get away, fighting with the force field, scrambling and struggling with some invisible restraint. He cursed and snarled under his breath, wrestling furiously and in vain, pulling at holds that now held him completely upright, in that tiny bit of space, unmoving.

"They've got him." Fi whispered, her eyes locked onto him, "They've... they've actually _got_ him. It's over."

But Myra watched him, shaking her head, her heart beating fast in her chest, "No. No no, this isn't right. This isn't right." She took a sharp step forwards, "Trickster? What are you doing?" he turned to look at her, and anger sparked inside her again, "You gave me your word."

"I lied." He replied, silkily, smiling his vicious smile, "I'm always lying. Sort of in the job description."

"What's going on." Faye asked, sharply, looking back and forth between them, "Myra?"

"We made a bargain." she shook her head, fear and anger attacking her in equal measures, "You gave me your word, Trickster."

"Yes. I did. But then I started thinking about it, Myra Hull. And I realised... this time bomb in your head... you don't know what it is, do you?"

She just looked at him, refusing to give him an answer.

"It's an internalised retrogressive aeroneutralisation reactor."

The Doctor shook his head, immediately, anger and horrified realisation flashing in his eyes, "No! You _can't_!"

"What does that mean." Faye asked, sharply.

"It's a remote explosion, Faye Hull."

"It's Faye _Barlow_." She corrected, coldly, "And just what the hell is it going to explode."

"The Paradox Machine." He turned back to Myra, his mocking smile making her hands clench into fists, "And all he had to do was link you into the matrix. Connect you into the console with a Heliotrion particle wave as a connection relay. He knew you'd do the rest. Try and send the Paradox Machine into meltdown."

"What will it do." Myra -1.0 asked, urgently, "How big will the explosion be?"

"Big enough to tear a hole in the time-space continuum bigger than this _planet_, Miss Hull. Enough chaos... to last me and my whole Brigade... three hundred lifetimes. Enough chaos... to let me into this dimension... to let me regain my physical form."

"But millions of people are gunna _die_!" she said, sharply, shaking her head.

"Yes. They are. Pure, unbiased chaos. And I will live again. And I will consume _all_ of you." He shook his head, giving a small, dark laugh, "Welcome to the reign of chaos."

Myra shook her head, slowly. She had taken a few steps backwards. She shook her head again, "What have I done. God. What have I _done_."

A siren rang through the caverns. Faye glanced up, and then back down, frantically, "The Paradox Machine! It's activated!"

The Trickster smiled, "_Time_ check, _Doctor_?"

The Doctor shook his head, his breathing heavy and sharp. He glanced down at his wrist, and then back up to Myra, almost desperately, "Two-thirty."

Myra met his eyes, her breathing stopping in her chest.

* * *

Suddenly, a shrill screech sounded through Myra's head. She forced her hands over her ears, still hearing it, this shriek, screech, this, this sound, so shrill and piercing, cutting through her brain, and it _hurt_, it actually _hurt_.

"_God_, what _is_ that, what _is_ that _noise_, God, _God_!"

Her hands were so tight over her ears now and the sound just got worse, more penetrating, and her breathing was fast and her heart hammered in her chest. Her legs gave and she fell to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut, only vaguely aware of people falling around her, someone to her right, someone right in front of her, hands on her shoulders, hands over hers, trying to pull them away. _God_, the noise, God, _God_! Screeching, static and this _horrific_ click-click-click ramming itself into her head. She untangled her hand from her head, clawing at the noise, but feeling no release.

"Faye!" she managed, her voice forced and agonising, calling over the screaming in her head.

"Myra, Myra, I'm here."

"Time to hit the button, Faye!"

"But you... but you told me..."

"I know what I _said_, Faye, I said it was for the last resort. _Press the button_!"

"You never told me what it did. You never said what it'd do."

"Just _do_ it! _NOW_!"

"I don't think so."

"No! _Myra_! No, get _off_ of me! MYRA!"

Myra managed to force her head up, feeling it splitting, so sure it was going to rip itself in half. Faye. She had been pushed away, pushed into a corner, and she was surrounded, by Tricksters, _six_ of them, they had surrounded her.

"_Don't you touch her_." she growled, trying to pull herself forwards. Pain hit her fresh again and she buckled, falling to the floor, putting her hands back over her head, "_No_! Get _away_ from her!"

Faye struggled, fought, pulling at their holds, kicking and pushing them away from her. The scanner flew from her hands, crashing to the floor.

Myra's eyes fixed on it. Curses flew over her lips and he flung out a hand, trying to reach it. Pain struck through her again and she collapsed to the floor, knowing nothing else but the agony in her head, nothing else mattered, there _was_ nothing else, nothing but the pain and the noise, the everlasting _noise_ in her head, that one single, high-pitched shriek.

"Myra." The Doctor was by her side, hands on her waist, trying to coax her back.

"No." She managed, still trying to reach out, "Doctor. The scanner. The _scanner_."

Her hand buckled but she couldn't do it, she couldn't reach, and she couldn't see, and she could feel the noise was killing her, it was _killing_ her, and she wasn't going to last, wasn't going to, wasn't going to...

"_Doctor_!"

He shook his head, still pulling at her, managing to get a proper hold, dragging her back along the sand, back towards the wall.

"Doctor -"

"No."

She forced her eyes up to him, and he nodded in front of them, silently. A Tetrap was edging towards them, cocking its head to one side, turning to let its frontal eye focus on them properly. Myra stopped, and then pulled back, getting halfway to her feet, scrambling back into the wall. It sniffed, growled, and then started lurching towards them. It grabbed hold of her first, its clawed hand grabbing her foot, trying to drag

"_No_!"

* * *

Someone else was there, standing, getting between them and the beast, holding something in their hands, a _gun_, "_Get_ off of her! Get _off_ her! _Myra_?!"

The figure looked around her, frantically, and then leant down, snatching something off the floor, "Myra! I've got the box!"

Myra grabbed hold of it, pulling it down to her level and then grabbing the arm that had given it.

"_Get Faye._" She managed, writhing with pain, her teeth grinding.

The arm disappeared and she turned back to the box, fighting to concentrate as fire burned through her mind. Her hand scrambled down towards her pocket, grabbing hold of the thick leather strap.

She could vaguely see the girl advancing on the Tricksters, grip tight on the gun, her aim flickering constantly between the group, "Back the _hell_ off! _Now_! Get _away_ from her!"

There was a scuffle, and then Faye was thrown out of the group, pushed away. The girl caught her, pulling her back, her hand on the gun still firm.

She could see the Trickster moving towards her with her blurred double vision, "Oh, you're clever, Myra Hull. But you can't trick a Trickster."

"Wanna bet?" she growled, forcing the casing open with a flick of her wrist.

Myra Mark-Two skidded down beside her, putting one hand on her arm, the other on her gun, trying to check her eyes. Then her gaze caught the box and she froze, instantly. Her eyes widened, and she moved them up to meet Myra's, "But that's... that's... that's a miniaturised Paradox Machine."

"Yeah. I know. Doctor!"

He took the teleportation pack from her hand, strapping it onto his wrist, "I'm ready."

He took her hand, forcing it onto the strap, doing the same to Faye, tapping keys furiously fast.

The Trickster was still there, and took an almost hesitant step towards them, "What are you doing."

Myra shook her head, grimacing at the continued screaming, "A little trick. 'Cause you know what, Trickster? Chaos is _my_ blood too."

The Doctor finished the coordinates, and immediately pushed down the activator. They disappeared into a flash of white light, appearing less than a second later on the TARDIS floor, time sickness once again pushing itself through their heads. Myra rolled over onto her back, wincing, her breathing tight and painful in her lungs, "_Scanner_."

"I've got it."

Myra Mark-Two took hold of the scanner, looking at her, "What do I do."

"Button. Three seconds. Lever... six."

The Mark did what she said, immediately, but then hesitated. She looked down at the lever. Then she looked back up at her, "This will kill me."

"Yes." She managed, fighting with the pain, the darkness now clouding her eyes, "Please."

She looked at her for a second. Faye was on the floor to her right, and the Doctor was standing next to them, watching the scene with wide eyes.

"Please." She said again, forcing the words out her mouth, the noise now so penetrating it was a constant ringing in her head, and she could feel consciousness slipping between her fingers, "Do it."

The Mark looked down at the box. Her thumb moved over the lever. Then she looked up, "Look after Maddie."

She forced the lever up to six.

* * *

The Doctor was thrown back against the wall, thrown to the floor. He looked up, and worked his way over to Faye, grabbing hold of her hand. The floor shook and the walls juddered, boxes falling off the gantries and crashing down, showering their contents all over the TARDIS floor. The momentum burst open pieces of grates and the early warning bell was ringing, incessantly.

The Doctor managed to force himself a little upright, grimacing. The clock on the console was going haywire, ticking back numbers as fast as it could. He turned back to Faye, raising his voice over the roar of wind: "Faye? You alright?"

She shook her head, "What the hell is going on!"

"The Paradox is breaking! Time is reversing!" he paused, and then shook his head, giving a small, relieved laugh, "Again!"

"The eye of the storm..."

He nodded, grinning, "Yep!"

But Faye didn't look so happy. She was pulling away from him, dragging herself along the floor, paying no attention to the dangers, "Myra. _Myra_. Can you hear me?"

The Doctor frowned, and then his eyes widened, and he instantly moved by her side, crawling over to her, "Myra?"

The girl was lying still on her back, perfectly still. Her hands had fallen out by her shoulders, her head tilted to one side.

_Myra_.

The storm was dying down. Within a few moments he was next to her, and he could move freely. He turned her head round to him, quickly. Her eyes were closed. He took her shoulders and shook her, "Myra. _Myra_." She didn't reply. She was completely limp. He muttered a curse under his breath in passable French - a language he regularly turned to in times of stress - and then turned, swiftly, "Faye, my coat."

She yanked it off her shoulders, immediately, and passed it to him. He rummaged through his pockets until he found the stethoscope, and forced it on. He pushed the amplifier onto her chest with a shaking hand. He waited for a moment and then shook his head, frustrated, pulling it off, "No heartbeat, _nothing_. Faye d'you know CPR?"

She shook her head, looking, frankly, terrified, "_No_."

"Then it's time to learn, come here, by her head."

The girl moved immediately, kneeling by her sister.

"It's easy, listen to me, tilt her head back - that keeps the airway open. I'm gunna do twenty compressions and then I want you to pinch her nose and blow air into her mouth, got it? It's easy, piece of cake, okay?"

"Okay." She replied, her voice small and thin. She put of her hands, hesitated, and then gently moved Myra's head back, leaning it onto the TARDIS floor.

The Doctor got up on his knees, moving over her, and linked his hands into one fist. He didn't hesitate, forcing his hands down into her ribs, using all his weight.

One. Two. Three. Four.

He kept going. He couldn't stop. His hearts were throbbing in his chest, painfully fast, and his breathing was far too shallow. But he didn't care. He didn't care about him.

Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.

His arms were aching with the strain. But he kept going. Because it was his fault. And if she... No. Keep going.

Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.

"Now."

Faye leant over, taking a deep breath and forcing it into her sister's lungs. She did it again, and then moved back, looking at him, expectantly.

He watched her chest. It didn't move. He shook his head, angrily, "Again."

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

"Faye."

"What."

Six. Seven. Eight.

"Over there on the floor, behind you. That box. Get it, bring it here."

Nine. Ten.

She nodded, scrambling away to get the box.

Eleven. Twelve.

"Here."

He glanced at it, his attention still firmly on the compressions, "Open it up."

Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.

"Epinephrine. There. The injection. Get it."

Sixteen. Seventeen.

"What's Epinephrine?"

"Adrenaline. Heard of an EpiPen?"

"The thing they use with allergic reactions? Like anaphylactic shock?"

"Yeah."

Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.

"Two breaths. Now."

She dropped the kit and went back to her, forcing oxygen into her lungs again.

The Doctor grabbed the Epinephrine, taking a hypodermic needle from the kit and sticking the needle into the bottle, drawing up the clear liquid, not caring when his hand fumbled with the bottle and the last remaining drops went everywhere.

"Doctor!"

He turned, sharply, going back to Myra, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Myra? Myra, last chance, 'cause this is gunna hurt. Snap out of it, Myra. _Myra_!"

She didn't answer, didn't move. He nodded, grimly, taking the needle up, holding it carefully between his teeth. He picked up the stethoscope again, his hands fumbling in his haste, and listened to her heart. Nothing. Not a blip. He clawed the stethoscope off, then took the needle from his mouth, holding it upright, pressing down the plunger until a trickle came out the needle, making sure it was all liquid, no air.

He pushed the strap of her top down, baring her left shoulder. He grabbed the injector in a fist and then moved it over her heart. His hesitation lasted for less than a second, and then he forced the injection down into her flesh, pushing down the plunger.

Myra sat bolt upright with a quick, strangled gasp.

"_Myra_!" Faye caught her back and held her, keeping her upright.

Myra yanked in another breath, her body lunching, choked it back out, brought in another. Her wide eyes flickered over them, fixed on his, "_Doctor_." She managed, choking on the word, her breaths too shallow, too fast.

The Doctor looked at her, recoiling back slightly, his eyes flickering over her, urgently. Then he shook his head, realisation pumping through him, "_Adrenaline_." he put his hands back on her shoulders, urgently, "Myra, you've gotta slow down. _Listen_ to me, okay, you've gotta slow down. _Calm_. Calm your breathing, okay?"

She shook her head, frantically, her breaths coming in short, painful gasps. She was almost gagging, her breath caught in her throat, choking, her hands scrambling at her neck.

"_Myra_, it's not the air, it's _you_. _Calm your breathing __**down**_, you're gotta listen to me."

"What happens if she can'tcalm her breathing down." Faye asked, quickly.

He looked up at her, shaking his head, and that was all she needed. She moved fast, "Myra, okay, listen to me now."

"Faye?"

"Back off, I can do this. Come on, back off, let go of her."

"Faye, what are you -"

"Doctor, with all due respect, shut up." She turned back to Myra, taking her by the elbows, negotiating her hands down from her neck, "Myra, can you hear me? Myra. Listen. Hush-a-Bye Mountain, do you know it?"

"Hush... hush..." she tired, and then shook her head, frantically, her breathing not allowing her words.

"Yes you do. You sing it to Maddie. You know it. I want you to sing it now."

"I... I..."

"Come on. A gentle breeze... from... Hush-a-Bye Mountain."

She managed to force some words out: "Softly... blows... o'er... Lullaby Bay."

"Fills the sails..."

"Of boats... that are waiting. Waiting... to sail..."

"Your worries away."

The Doctor watched them, amazed. The younger sister was cradling her, one hand now on the side of her head, her chin on her shoulder, perfectly calm, her breathing steady. Whenever Myra stumbled, whenever she coughed, choked, panicked, she soothed her, coaxed her back into a normal pattern.

"So close your eyes, on Hush-a-Bye Mountain." Faye encouraged, gently.

"Wave... goodbye... to cares of the day."

"And watch your boat, from Hush-a-Bye Mountain."

"Sail far away... from Lullaby... Bay."

Myra collapsed back, her eyes closing, letting go one long breath. Faye let her down on the floor, hastily, "_Doctor_!"

The Doctor moved, quickly, getting over her. He put a hand to her neck, feeling for her pulse. He shifted his fingers, quickly, his own heavy heartbeat clouding his ears. Then he let out a sigh, falling back against the wall, "It's fine. I've got a pulse, she's fine. She's gunna be fine."

Relief poured from Faye in currents. Tears flooded down her cheeks and she collapsed onto him, pulling him into a hug. He let her, putting an arm round her shoulders, holding her close. It had all been a mask. That calm, that control. It was all forced.

He moved his hand onto her hair, stroking it, trying to calm her, "How did you... How did you know that would work?"

She gave a small laugh, laughing through the tears, "I'm a mother. Maddie used to have nightmares. Panic attacks. Hyperventilation. Singing forces you to control your breathing. Keep calm."

"Who told you that?"

She smiled again, shaking her head, "A Doctor."

He paused, and then echoed her smile. He leant back against the wall, letting his head fall back, closing his eyes. His own panting breaths were beginning to slow, his pulse lessening. He let himself relax, let the world slip away from him, his hand tracing the girl's back.

He let his other hand fall out, catching onto Myra's arm. She was fine. She was going to sacrifice herself to save them. All those lives. But she was alive. The anthromorph was destroyed, absorbed, ceased to exist. The Trickster had been caught outside the eye of the storm, would have no memory. But she'd saved them. She'd created her own Paradox Machine, programmed it in to protect them. Even thought about the eye of the storm, managed to find a way to get them out of there, create the eye elsewhere, in the TARDIS, even managed to find a way to make sure the Trickster would have no knowledge of what had passed.

The Doctor gave a small smile. He moved his hand down her arm, taking her hand, squeezing it, gently. Humans. Even after all these years. They never ceased to amaze him.

* * *


	31. Epilogue: The Time Lord

_Mbea's Trickster Epilogue: 'The Time Lord'. One last trip._

_Disclaimer - I do not own Doctor Who._

* * *

**Epilogue - The Time Lord**

"Sutton Road, Admaston, Telford. England. Earth. The Solar System. See, I told you so."

Myra walked out into the sun, blinking, holding up a hand to shield her eyes, "Hang on, we're in the middle of a field."

"Yeah, well, I had to go _careful_, _didn't_ I? Didn't want one of _your_ lot finding out I was _real_, _did_ I?"

"Yeah, yeah. Y'know, I don't remember any fields on my road." She looked around her, frowning, and then caught sight of a bus stop not that far away, "Hang on, here we go."

She walked over to it, wading through a field of grass. She stopped, putting her hand on the top to cast some shade, looking over the sign, "It's says we're on the A274. Where's the A274?"

The Doctor tapped the sign, "There. Sutton Road. Told you."

"Sutton Road... but this... this first stop is _Maidstone Town Centre_! The _Queens_ Monument! You've taken me to _Maidstone_!"

He frowned, "Right... Okay... Maidstone's... _near_ Telford, isn't it?"

She laughed, shaking her head, "Well, if you count 'near' as over two hundred miles then yeah! _God_, you're hopeless, you are..."

"Oh... right... sorry..."

She shook her head again, "Don't worry about it. Y'know what, that up there looks to me like a pub. Yeah. Yeah it is. The Crown and Horseshoes. Come on. I am _starving_."

* * *

Myra made her way back, winding her way through the tables, "There. Lime and soda. By the way, you drink like a girl."

He took the glass from her, rolling his eyes, "Thanks, what's _that_, then?"

"Kopparberg."

"Fantastic. _Much_ better."

"I'm _allowed_ to drink like a girl."

"I suppose. What did you order?"

A small green salad was placed in front of him. The Doctor looked at her, raising an eyebrow. She gave a small smirk, and then pulled the bowl towards her, giving the man room to place a plate of chips in front of him. Still with her smile, she glanced up and nodded, thanking him. The waiter's eyes, however, were on the Doctor, frowning, almost warily. He nodded back, stiffly, and then walked quickly back to the bar.

The Doctor glanced at him, frowning, and then looked back to her, "What's up with him?"

"Well... I may have just had to tell the bartender you were a major Doctor Who fan from Swindon."

"Oh. Okay then. Well. I'm surprised he didn't ignore you and fix me a tea." He turned to the bartender, lifting his glass with a smile. The man turned, immediately moving to the other side of the bar.

Myra laughed, shaking her head, "Another sci-fi nut loose on Maidstone town..."

"Mm. _Doctor Who_... So... when did it start? _Doctor Who_. What was the... _first episode_, or whatever."

"An Unearthly Child." She quoted, picking up her fork, knowing full well just how 'science geeky' she was sounding, "It started back on the first day you met the two Coal Hill School teachers, Ian and Barbara, do you remember?"

The Doctor looked at her, frowning, and then smiled, "Oh! Oh yes! Of course! Chesterton and Barbara, they came looking for Susan!"

"Yeah. _You_ _**kidnapped**_ them."

"_They_ forced their way into the _TARDIS_." He corrected, firmly. Then he shook his head, "But that was _years_ ago, _life_-times!"

"That's when it started."

"And where did it end?"

Myra hesitated, and then shook her head, "It hasn't ended, it's still running. But... my world is two series ahead of you. That's how -"

"How you knew my future."

She paused again, and then nodded, "Yeah. That's why I had to be so _careful_, the wrong word in the wrong place at the wrong time... I couldn't risk changing the future. I knew it wouldn't just change mine."

"So you know my future? My own personal future?"

"Don't you dare." She cut in, warningly, easily interpreting the look on his face, "Don't you even _dare_ ask me, Doctor. That's not fair."

He looked at her, disappointed, "Oh, not even a _clue_?"

"No." She replied, firmly.

"Not even a _hint_?"

"_No_."

He smiled, a cheeky, glittering grin, and she turned her head, immediately, looking out the window, knowing exactly what effect it would have on her, "_Come_ on."

She shook her head, "Nope."

He kept the smile, putting his hand out and taking hold of her arm, forcing her to meet his eyes, "Not even _one little hint_? Just a little hint about what happens?"

She shook her head, turning back to him, "Spoilers!"

He frowned, "_What_?"

"They're _spoilers_! You don't want me to tell you what happens, it'll be like peeking at the ending!"

"Where'd you learn _that_ from?"

She smiled, "_You_."

He hesitated, still with that slightly disappointed expression, "Yeah, but I didn't know I'd be _here_, _did_ I? Oh come on, one little hint."

"_No_! _But_ - just for reference, Easter Sunday in 2009 is on the twelfth of April." He raised an eyebrow and she smiled, "It'll... make sense later. Just keep it in mind, okay?"

"I can never usually find Easter." He mused.

She nodded, "Yeah, I know. Twelfth of April, 2009. Keep it in mind."

"Well, that's _some_thing to look forward to, at least." Then he pressed again: "Oh, come on, then, how about a question? Just one question, how about that?"

Myra looked at him, hesitating. Then she let out a weary sigh, "Alright. Alright, okay. What d'you wanna know."

He looked at her for a moment, "One question. Just one question."

"Yep. One question."

He paused, thinking. Then he smiled, "I can't think of one."

"Not one? Am I gunna be happy, am I gunna find true love - Life, Love, Work - not _one_?"

He smiled again, and then shook his head, "Well. I suppose I've got _one_. What will you do now?"

She sat back, thoughtfully, "Well. After I've... been pulled into an alternate dimension... joined in an episode of a... _well_-known sci-fi program... got possessed, kidnapped, killed - _twice_ - sent back through time..."

"Saved the world." The Doctor added, smiling.

"Saved the world." She agreed, nodding, "Defeated an infamous enemy... wiped another from the face of the universe... well, kinda hard to follow, isn't it? I dunno... get up? Go to work? Get home? Watch Corrie? Make... beans on toast?"

She laughed, and he joined her, shaking his head, "Catch the next Doctor Who episode?"

She laughed again, "_Exactly_!"

"Humans... always the same, aren't you?"

"Yep."

They both laughed, and then the Doctor looked at her, smiling with amused curiosity, "But really. What next? Same old life? Nine to five at the local supermarket, administrative supervisor?"

"What else would I do?"

"Well. You could always..." he stopped in his tracks, looking at her for a second, almost _tentatively_, and then moving his eyes back down to his drink, taking a sip.

"Always...?" she prompted, her eyes locked on his.

He looked up, "Come with me."

She looked at him. Then she shook her head, simply, "No."

Emotions flashed through his eyes, and he moved them back to the drink, "Okay."

"No, Doctor, listen to me. _Look_ at me." She waited until his eyes had met hers, and then shook her head, "It's not because I don't want to."

"I could - I could bring you back, the Blockade acts as a pathway, a pathway into this dimension, and the Blockade is still here. You could come back whenever you wanted."

She shook her head, "It's not that either." She paused, looking at him, and then smiled, slowly, "You didn't ask a question. I gave you one but you didn't ask it. Even though I know there was one on your mind. You didn't ask it. But I'm gunna give you an answer." She leant over the table towards him, her smile still, "I'm not going with you... because I don't want to take up the space."

He frowned, for a second not getting it, "Take up the space?"

She nodded, slowly, "Yep. Because - oh, I dunno..." she paused for a second, and her smile grew, "Maybe you'll be needing it." She put her hand over the table and took his, squeezing, still smiling. Then she moved back, abruptly, "Now. There is _one_ more thing you can do for me." She picked up her glass and finished the rest of it, standing, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet, "Come on. One last trip."

* * *

"Are we there?"

The Doctor looked at her, and then just nodded towards the door, "Take a look."

Myra paused, looking at him. Then she took a few steps towards the TARDIS door. She put out her hand, and brushed it along the metal handle. She glanced back at him. Then she pulled it open.

Her eyes fixed onto the view in front of her. She wasn't breathing. Her eyes moved across. Then she held a hand up to her mouth, shaking her head, slowly. She raised a shaking hand, pointing out the door, glancing back at him, "That's the Earth."

He nodded, slowly, smiling, "Yep. Sol-3. Of the Sol system. Mutter's Spiral."

"Otherwise known as Earth. Of the Solar System. The Milky Way."

"Well..."

She shook her head again, moving her eyes again, "Where's the rest of the planets? I can't see some."

"Orbit patterns. We're right in the middle of them. Just a sec..."

He tapped some buttons on the console, and then the planets started to move, swinging around in their orbits, spinning. Her eyes widened, following the planets. Then she glanced back at him.

The Doctor smiled, "That's better. Fast forward."

She nodded, then shook her head, amazed, and turned back. The sun burned to her left. The whole Solar System revolved around her. Glittering, shimmering, some baked with heat, giant chunks of rock, and others thick swirls of gas with liquid cores, the Gas Giants. "There we go... all nine planets... Well. All _eight_."

"Aw, don't worry, you guys will find another one soon."

She turned to him, raising her eyebrows, "_Really_? Where? On the edge? Or is Pluto reclassified? Do we expand the Solar System?"

The Doctor walked up to her, leaning down to her level, "Spoilers."

She shook her head, "Oh, you are such a git." He laughed, but she kept her eyes on the planets, completely awed, "How far up are we?"

"Oh, around... thirty million miles?" he glanced over his shoulder, checking, "Thirty million, eight hundred thousand and twenty-six."

She nodded. Saturn spun past them as she watched, its beautiful rings bright and pure in the soft light. Myra shook her head, slowly. It was taking a lot to grasp this. She tried not to think. Just to stand. And watch. The whole of the Solar System moving around her. A tear slipped down her cheek, and then another one, and another. She put a hand up to her face, quickly, and wiped them away.

The Doctor smiled at her, "That's okay. Culture shock."

"Happens to the best of us." She completed in a whisper. She stood still, shaking slightly, watching. She gave a small, strangled laugh, "After all I've been through I decide to react to _this_." He gave a small, soft smile, and she returned it, "You must think I'm _always_ crying. I'm _not_, I promise. I smile sometimes, too."

He laughed, shaking his head, "That's good to hear."

She smiled through the tears, "Yeah." She paused, looking at the planets, following their orbits. How much life was on these planets. And how _far_ did the universe stretch beyond _this_. Infinity.

"You okay?"

She nodded, slowly, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She shook her head, "I'm _more_ than fine. I'm... _fantastic_." She meant it.

He put his hands on her shoulders, squeezing, gently, "Time to go home."

She nodded again, "Yeah. _De retour chez soi_."

He smiled, "_Bien sûr_."

She paused for one last second, and then turned around. He slid the door shut behind her, and then turned to look at her. Myra looked up, catching his eyes, shaking her head, smiling, "That... that was amazing."

He smiled back, nodding, "Good. Now. _Home_."

* * *

Myra knelt down, balancing herself with a hand on the door, pulling out a key that was taped to the overhang of her step. She straightened back up and pressed the key in the lock, forcing the door open. She popped back into the TARDIS and then led out a newly-awakened Faye carrying a whacked-out young Madeleine, pointing out the nearest bedroom, telling her to take Maddie and get some rest.

Myra stayed at the door, and then turned back, smiling, "Here we are. Home."

The Doctor looked up at it and nodded, approvingly, "It's nice."

"Thanks." She paused for a moment, looking at him, and then shook his head, "The guys on Mbea... they'll be okay now, won't they?"

"Oh, yeah, they'll be _fine_. Won't even realise anything's _happened_. It's two years in the past for them. They'll start building their scanner, bring it up to the Blockade, find out what it's made of... maybe then they'll be happy."

"Yeah. Maybe they will." She shook her head, "And _you_? You're sure you can get back to your dimension?"

"Yeah, just need to reverse the zero-dimensional closure, reroute the hydrospec interface and then - what d'ya think?"

She shook her head, smiling slightly, "No idea. The TARDIS is all gone. Not a trace. But that's good." She smiled again, "At least I got to keep some of it. What I did. All that happened." She stopped, then looked up at him again, "But that Blockade... that... _zero-dimensional closure_... _thing_... that means you can come back. Whenever you want."

He nodded, "I could come visit you. I mean, if you _want_."

"I'd love you to." His awkwardness melted, and he smiled. She looked at him seriously, "You _will_, won't you? One day?"

He looked at her, and then took an abrupt step back, as though hit with a sudden inspiration. He patted down his pockets, after a few moments abandoning his blazer and checking his trench coat. She watched him, smiling, vaguely amused, until he apparently found what he was looking for, "Here it is!"

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and showed it to her. She laughed, reflexively, the absurdity of it catching her by surprise, "It's your clockwork mouse!"

He grinned, "Yep. I want you to have it."

She looked up at him, "What? I can't take this! What if you need it?"

He rolled his eyes, and then leant closer towards her, "It's fine. It's okay. He's got a friend."

She raised her eyebrows, laughing, "What sort of man has _two_ _**clockwork mice **_in his pockets?"

He shook his head, mockingly serious, "You never know when you might need a clockwork mouse."

She laughed again, and then let him put the mouse in her hands. She looked at it, turning it over in her hands, smiling to herself, "Why are you giving me this?"

He nodded at it, "Insurance. I'll come back for that."

"You will?"

"You've got my word, Myra. I'll come back for that." He leant towards her again, "The other will get lonely."

She laughed, shaking her head, "You're impossible."

He winked at her, clicking his tongue, and Myra laughed again. Then she looked at him, smiling, mischievously, "Ever heard of Adipose Industries?"

He frowned, curiously, confused at the sudden change, "Adipose Industries? Can't say I have. Why?"

"Well... my aunt's into them. _Big_ time. Says they're _amazing_. A _miracle_." She looked at him, still smiling, her eyes drawing him in, like a dare. She shrugged, casually, "Just... sounded like something you'd be into. Time travel. Magic. _Miracles_."

She paused for a moment, smiling, and then the silence was broken by a shrill ring from inside. Her phone. She glanced over her shoulder at it and then back to him, smiling, "I better get that. Probably mum, going mental as usual."

"Yeah. Course."

She looked up at him, catching his eyes, shaking her head, smiling, "Thankyou." She put all her emotion into the word, as much as she could.

He smiled back, "It was my pleasure."

She smiled. She took a step backwards, into the house. And then shut the door.

* * *

Myra stayed by it for some time, her hand brushing the wood. Then she smiled again, and turned away, walking into the house. She looked at the mouse in her hand and laughed, shaking her head, almost fondly. She went into her living room and sat down, leaning her head back against the wall.

Her phone rang again, shrill and piercing. She grimaced, and then shook her head, picking it up from the sofa. She glanced at it and smiled. Mum. And seven missed calls. She held the phone up to her ear, "Mum, hey."

"Where have you _been_? Don't you _check_ your phone?"

She smiled again, getting to her feet, walking up the stairs, "Love you too."

"Where _are_ you?"

"I'm at home, I've just... been out."

"Been out _where_?"

"What am I, _six_? I went out for a walk!"

"Well I've got _Annemarie_ asking me where the hell you've got to! Apparently you just walked out of work!"

She sighed, placing the mouse down on her bedroom table, "I didn't _walk out_, Mum, I went for my lunch break."

"Yes! Which was _three __**hours**_ ago! What took you?"

"I just... I was just... _busy_." She frowned, "Wait, is she actually _there_? At the house?"

"Yes!"

"What? _Why_? Why didn't she come here?"

"She _did_! You didn't answer!"

"So she went to my _mother's_, what right has she got to do _that_?"

"Well _I_ don't know, _do_ I? But she's here now and she's pretty damned annoyed. D'you want me to give her a message?"

Myra paused, thinking about it, her hand adjusting the mouse's position on her table. Then she smiled, slowly, and nodded, "Yeah. Tell her I resign."

* * *


	32. x Author's Note x

_**x Author's Note x**_

Well. Here we are! We've finally reached the end! To all those who accompanied Myra on her journey - thanks! We know it's been a long one!

If you're reading this it means you've reached the end. The end of two and a bit months of work. Thanks be to the creator of Doctor Who - and the Doctor himself, of course - and also to you lot for reading!

**

* * *

**

Thanks also go to:

*** **The **BBC** (all hail)

*** SeventhSanctum** for their inspiration and help when it comes to finding names.

*** **The **TARDIS wikia** - I couldn't have figured out all those crazy facts without you!

*** Amk quotations** for their awesome post-Eccleston quotes.

*** Who-transcripts from atspace** - awesome transcripts site for Series 1 - 4...

*** **...and **tripod's dwtpscripts** for more post-Eccleston transcripts

*** Wikipedia** and **Wikiquote** in general

*** **And **my mumma**, who's awesome :)

*** **Oh, and also **LadyKryptonite294**, who was actually the reason why I got onto this site in the first place. Thanks Cee!

* * *

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it - comments welcome - and now go to bed and rest your eyes, because Mbea's Trickster is officially CoMpLeTeD!!

**Love and kisses,**

**VArwen**


End file.
